Did Tsunami Really Kill 25 People in Lake Michigan?

In Michigan we deal with all sorts of varying weather. It’s June, and I’m still wearing a coat. While we deal with the brutal winters, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms... that’s generally the extent of it.

What Natural Disasters Does Michigan Avoid?

Luckily here in the mitten, we don't have to worry about earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunami or volcanoes, or do we?

Michigan is not known for earthquakes but there have been many small ones here and in the surrounding states and Canadian Provinces. By the time a major hurricane makes its way to Michigan, it's barely a tropical depression or even anything considered severe. Sure we might get heavy rain, but it's nothing like our friends to the south dealt with when the storm came ashore.

READ MORE: NWS Cuts May Lead to Forecast Inaccuracies

Don't get Volcano Insurance if you live in Michigan, since the closest active volcano system is close to 1,300 miles from Detroit. Yellowstone National Park is active but currently not erupting according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, and they say it hasn't erupted in over 64,000 years.

How to Stay Safe Around the Great Lakes

But what about Tsunami? While Michigan and the great lakes don't get hit by traditional tsunami, we have a striking history with something called a meteotsunami.

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This is caused when a series of large waves are fueled by area-pressured disturbances like thunderstorms. According to NOAA, these happen all over the world, including right here in the Great Lakes area. In the last century, more than 25 people from Michigan and Illinois have been killed by these meteotsunami.

Michigan’s Deadliest Waves: A Look Back

The first recorded deaths happened in Grand Haven, Michigan when 10 people were killed on July 4th of 1929. Then in June of 1954 another 'freak wave' killed 8 people in Chicago along a lakeshore. It was another Independence Day back in 2003 when seven swimmers were killed in the rip tides behind the massive wave at Warren Dunes State Park.