Heat — Oakland, Michigan

2001-08-06 to 2001-08-09 · Oakland, Michigan

Wider weather episode

A large high pressure ridge settled across the Great Lakes region during the first week of August. With this ridge in place, high temperatures soared well into the 90s across southeast Michigan. During this period, Flint broke 3 record highs, including a high of 98 on the 8th. Detroit also broke a record on the 8th when a high of 99 degrees was reached. In addition to the heat, humidity levels rose significantly during the time period. The high heat and humidity allowed daytime heat indices to exceed 100 degrees four days in a row. In fact, heat advisories were in effect for all of southeast Michigan for the afternoons and evenings of the 7th, 8th, and 9th. During this time period, heat indices ranged from 105 to 110 degrees.The heat caused several people to seek emergency care for heat stroke and heat exhaustion. One fatality also occurred due to the heat when an Oak Park man was found suffering from severe heat exhaustion while locked in his car. Several hours later, he was pronounced dead at an area hospital. The hot weather only aggravated the dry conditions already in place across southeast Lower Michigan (see July for more details). This led to tremendous worries among area farmers that they may loose entire crops. Thousands of power outages also occurred throughout the region as demand surpassed supply. Several factory workers across the area were sent home from work to escape the extreme heat. Many of those who were not, however, threatened to walk off the job as a result of not having air conditioning in their factories.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5263717. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.