Backus Beach, Michigan
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1983. It stands in Hawes Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48762. It lies near Mount Maria. The Survey maps it on the Hubbard Lake quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Tawas City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Tawas City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1972 USGS Hubbard Lake quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Hubbard Lake quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
23 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Backus Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 63 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 August 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 July 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALCONA TOWNSHIP FD 0000013 - 2020 |
| 18 July 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALCONA 07 - STRIKE |
| 16 July 1993 | Debris and open burning | 12 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 3 June 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 June 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 May 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ALCONA 03 SARA FIRE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Backus Beach: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Pit # 132 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Backus Beach in 6 storm reports between 2006 and 2025: 3 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF1) | Backus Beach | $50,000 | EF1 tornado, with winds estimated up to 100 mph. Tornado tracked through a heavily forested area, downing many trees west of Mount Maria Road, east of Consolidated Road, and north of the West Branch River. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Backus Beach | $25,000 | Delayed report including images of over two dozen trees uprooted on the east side of Hubbard Lake. Some had fallen on homes. |
| July 2008 | Flash Flood | Backus Beach | $10,000 | Radar estimated three to five inches of rain fell during the late afternoon hours in the northern third of Alcona County. Mount Maria Road was flooded near the south end of Hubbard Lake. Hubbard Lake Road also went underwater, between Lake Street and Pine Grove Shores, as well as near Swede Road. |
| June 2008 | Hail | Backus Beach | - | Quarter sized hail covered the ground up to six inches deep. |
| June 2016 | Hail | Backus Beach | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Backus Beach | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hubbard Lake | 0.1 miles | 9 | |
| Larson Beach | 3.1 miles | 9 | |
| Barton City | 6.1 miles | 11 | |
| Lost Lake Woods | 6.6 miles | 9 | |
| Spruce | 7.2 miles | 9 | |
| Lincoln | 8.8 miles | 11 | |
| Killmaster | 10.2 miles | 11 | |
| Gustin | 11.5 miles | 11 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikidata item Q122545900 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 620410. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.



