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Harbor Beach, Michigan

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Sand Beach Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48441. It stands on Spring Creek. The Survey maps it on the Harbor Beach quadrangle. 1,604 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 600 feet above sea level.

Harbor Beach within Huron County

On record in Harbor Beach

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 4 records

Population over time

2 figures

Harbor Beach fell from 1,703 to 1,604 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,703
20201,604-99 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

3 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 3 fires within 5 miles of Harbor Beach in 2018, burning about 3 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
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
19 September 2018Natural1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesHARBOR BEACH FD 71 - 2018
27 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesHARBOR BEACH FD 51 - 2018
14 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesHARBOR BEACH FD 49 - 2018

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Huron County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Harbor 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Tanton Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Huron County

Storms near this place

22 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Harbor Beach in 22 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 2 tornado, 1 waterspout. The reports record 1 injury. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2001Tornado (F0)Harbor Beach1 hurt, $5,000A waterspout moved onshore from Harbor Beach harbor. Once the waterspout made landfall, it become classified as a tornado. The tornado moved over the pier and went up a short hill near Water Street, then it dissipated. An elderly couple at an art fair attempted to hold onto belongings and were thrown to the ground with their belongings strewn on top of them. The elderly woman disslocated a shoulder and broke an arm, requireing an overnight hospital stay. One tree was also knocked over and fell onto a van.
July 2006LightningHarbor Beach$200,000A local newspaper article included a photograph of a home burned down. The fire was sparked by an electrical line blown down onto the home by thunderstorm winds. The couple was able to escape the home without injury. The value of the home itself was $150K, not including its contents. The couple lost all of their belongings in the fire. Total damages were roughly estimated at $200K.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach$75,000Local newspaper articles reported that the storms left behind a trail of destruction through Harbor Beach, with numerous trees, some very large, ripped from their roots and power lines down through the entire area. The storms left the entire city without power. Many vehicles and structures, including homes, were damaged by fallen debris. Several boats were tossed about and washed ashore on Sand Point. An NWS survey confirmed that this area was struck by a microburst with winds up to 100 MPH. Remarkably, No injuries or deaths were reported. Total property damage in Harbor Beach was estimated at $75K.
June 2004Tornado (F1)Harbor Beach$25,000A tornado tracked near Rapson Road from Minden to Klug Roads. Widespread tree damage was reported, along with minor property damage. One property alone along Rapson Road lost 44 trees, many of which were more than 100 years old and very large. Outbuildings were moved off their foundations, with a portion of a metal roof on a barn torn off.
August 1998Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach$6,000no account filed
May 1998Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach$5,000no account filed
August 2015Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach$1,000Trees and wires reported down, along with a power pole.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-Multiple trees and large branches reported down.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-Multiple trees and power lines reported down in Harbor Beach area.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-An eight inch diameter tree limb was reported down.
September 2021Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-Large tree limbs reported down.
October 2017Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-A tree was reported blown down.
November 2015Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-One 8 inch and one 6 inch diameter tree was snapped. Multiple power lines downed, along with flag pole snapped.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-A 1 foot diameter tree was snapped in half.
August 2003Thunderstorm WindHarbor Beach-A trained weather spotter reported large tree limbs down.
August 2001WaterspoutHarbor Beach-Developed in Harbor Beach harbor.
August 2015HailHarbor Beach-no account filed
August 2013HailHarbor Beach-no account filed
March 2012HailHarbor Beach-no account filed
August 2003HailHarbor Beach-no account filed
August 2000HailHarbor Beach-no account filed
May 1998HailHarbor Beach-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Huron County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Helena5.3 miles10
Port Hope7.4 miles9
White Rock9.6 miles10
Ruth10.1 miles10
Redman11.3 miles9
Lewisville11.9 miles9
Parisville12.0 miles9
Rapson12.3 miles9

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.

Wikipedia article on Harbor BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2153356The 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 627752. 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.