The 2009 Wisconsin Spring/Summer thread

[Godspeed]

I'm watching channel 4 right now. Their coverage is just awful and awkward. They're actually interviewing people over the phone about what they're seeing in their neighborhood.

Local news at it's finest!

[hawing]

Grass-roots reporting. I imagine some people were out on their lawns talking to TMJ. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[JumpinMacFlash]

It might just be me being impatient, but I'm not enjoying the weather living near Milwaukee. It hasn't been incredibly warm in the last month, which I miss. Also, the family seems to be getting better storms in SW Wisconsin. Last summer was really enjoyable in that regard. I like storms and it seemed like we had a nice thunderstorm every three days or so. I'm probably just not giving it enough time.

[owbc]

Unfortunately, I missed the Milwaukee storm because I was out on a storm chasing trip in the central plains. The highlight for us was finding hail that was at least baseball-sized although we didn't see a tornado. I will post some pictures here when I get the chance.

 

Supposedly, a spotter saw a tornado near Union Grove in Racine County today. If it was, it was likely only on the ground for a minute or two. It also might have been a false report--one thing I learned from this trip is that supercells tend to have scary looking clouds all over the place that resemble funnels to the untrained eye.

[hawing]

Supposedly, a spotter saw a tornado near Union Grove in Racine County today. If it was, it was likely only on the ground for a minute or two. It also might have been a false report--one thing I learned from this trip is that supercells tend to have scary looking clouds all over the place that resemble funnels to the untrained eye.

For what it's worth, the NWS Sullivan website says the Union Grove tornado was reported by a trained spotter.

[brewdude15]

It's June and my place is freezing. I've had to put socks on to stay warm for about the past half week. What is going on?

[trwi7]

A tornado reported Monday afternoon in Waukesha County was confirmed by the National Weather Service in Sullivan.

But a second storm first thought to be a tornado in Racine County was actually a wind event called a "gustnado."

Link

[danzig6767]

It's June and my place is freezing. I've had to put socks on to stay warm for about the past half week. What is going on?

Wisconsin is a just miserable place to live when it comes to the weather, i hate almost everything about the weather here. When i'm watching Brewer road games in cities with an actually decent climate, i get so envious. We generally get three decent months of weather a year, June through August and the clock is already ticking away on June with it feeling more like April.

 

I'm so craving a stretch of hot weather and some blazing hot sun without tons of clouds/rain, but it feels like it's never going to happen which is driving me crazy.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

[trwi7]

I think September and early October in Wisconsin is great.

[Teatoe993]

I've got the thermostat set at 58? in my house and my furnace has been kicking on for the last 4 days. This is getting insane. It's enough to deal with 5+ months of winter every year. All I ask out of my home state is to give me three months of summer. It's the middle of June and the temp is still flirting with the 60? mark. I love you Wisconsin but I think I may have to be done with you.

[owbc]

From Milwaukee NWS:

 

 MINIMAL WEAK TORNADO TRAVELED FROM 1.6 WSW MUKWONAGO EASTWARD TO 1.5 MILES EAST OF MUKWONAGO BY 342 PM. NOT A CONTINOUS PATH. TREE DAMAGE NOTED. UNKNOWN IF THERE WAS STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. PRELIM RATED AS AN EF0 WITH WINDS OF 65 MPH. MOST LIKELY A RAIN-WRAPPED TORNADO AT TIMES AND DIFFICULT TO SEE. A THANKS IS EXTENDED TO THE MUKWONAGO POLICE FOR THEIR HELP. [/pre]

[burniebrewer]

My apologies to all who are complaining about the temps, but I think this weather is awesome. I love sunny days in the 60s and 70s. Today is perfect...about 65 degrees and sunny.

 

The extended forecast shows the next 7 days are going to be around 70 as well. Not only does that make for a nice day, it brings temps down at night for great sleeping weather and lower costs from the gas/electric company since I'm not using the heat or the A/C.

[Teatoe993]

Weather must have been a bit better in MKE. But up here in the Fox Valley, it has been terrible for a while now. Rainy and in the low 50s is not my idea of summertime fun. I can't even count how many T-Rats games I have skipped out on due to crummy/cold weather. I'm tempted to buy up the rest of the Hummers on Mr. Bergstrom's lot and put a brick on the gas pedal on all of them in hopes of speeding up the global warming.

[hawing]

I'll bump this in advance of the stormy forecast for southern Wisconsin today:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/mkx/tornado.png

 

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/mkx/wind.png

[NeedMoreFans]

Bring it on!!! I'll look forward to seeing Bob Lindmeier on Channel 27 at his finest. I can see it now...he breaks in...

 

Just wanted to keep you updated on the severe weather threat for today. A bolt of lightning was spotted about 3 miles southeast of Platteville, or 4 miles southwest of Belmont. That storm appears to be moving east northeast at about 25 miles an hour. At this speed, it should be hitting the western part of Dane county in about an hour and a half. If any other lightning strikes are reported, or if rain drops begin hitting windshields, we will let you know. Stay tuned to channel 27 for further weather updates.

 

Obsessed....you went on a storm chasing trip? I would love to do that, but Mrs. NMF doesn't think that's such a good idea.

[hawing]

You forgot to add that Bob will use the phrase "27 STORM TRACK" every other sentence.

[owbc]

I went to KS/NE/SD/MO twice in the last few weeks storm chasing. Unfortunately we didn't see any tornadoes but we did recover some 4" hail. Today the best tornado threat is in north-central Iowa, I was hoping to go but I have to work. Wisconsin will see mainly a straight line wind threat, as the MCS (thunderstorm cluster) over the SW Wisconsin right now is going to reduce the potential for supercells around here. Tomorrow should be another good tornado day in Iowa/Illinois.

 

As for storm chasing on your own, it is very dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. We always have someone who stays behind as "base support" and is available to call for updates. In addition, it is useful to have detailed maps of the county roads with someone along who is decent at navigating. I recommend taking a look at the NWS spotter page, there are some good ppt presentations about halfway down the page which are used in the storm spotter training courses. The general idea is to stay to the south of the storm and avoid getting under the mesocyclone and the hail shaft. It pays to have advanced meteorology knowledge to predict more precisely where the best storms will develop, but amateurs can usually use the storm prediction center to get a fairly good idea of where severe storms are likely.

[NeedMoreFans]

Ok, so is this severe threat overblown for today, or are we still going to see some fireworks this evening? It's 7:15, and it's fine outside...just humid. I sure hope it's not a 1 AM storm that comes through again...I'm tired of those.

 

Regarding storm chasing...I'd never do it on my own. I would love to tag along with some pros (but be in the way), or do one of those storm chasing vacations. Like I said, the Mrs. probably would veto any attempt of mine to actually go chasing.

[hawing]

I have a feeling whatever hits is in fact going to hit overnight. Yay sleep deprivation.

 

NMF, you'd probably like the storm spotter program the NWS holds every spring. I went to the basic spotter training session in April, at the Alliant Energy Center (I can't say Coliseum in my old-school way this time because it was held in the new part), and it was pretty neat. The slide show in the link provided above by OWBC is the PPT presentation made at the spotter training session - it only lacks video that Rusty Kapela had accompanying some slides - and I thought the whole thing was useful. They pass around a signup sheet for you to provide your contact information to the NWS, but they don't require you to fill anything out / commit to being a spotter. (You do find out the semi-secret 800 number for phoning storm reports in to the NWS.)

 

Since I've been storm phobic for literally decades, I was hoping to get an idea of how to distinguish between what Rusty calls "scary looking clouds" and clouds that you really have to worry about, and the program delivered. [Look for rotation, rotation, rotation, either in the clouds or at ground level.] That was just the kind of tip that I think will help me the next time we're driving home from MP and trying to figure out what we're looking at in the sky.

 

The only drag is that the tips aren't so useful at night, which is when we're most often driving home from games. As Rusty said, unless there's enough lightning to give you a good look at the clouds, you're pretty much screwed after dark. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif

[owbc]

Unfortunately the thunderstorms did not pop as expected in Iowa today despite really good severe parameters. This was due to a stronger than expected "capping inversion" which prevented the storms from firing. This was disappointing since the other severe parameters suggested a good chance of large hail and tornadoes.

 

As of about 9:00 PM, the storms are finally starting to develop near WI/IA border. These should quickly develop and organize into a larger cluster before moving through Wisconsin overnight. I expect a severe thunderstorm watch will be issued for southern WI in the next 1-2 hours.

 

Edit: Tornado watch now in effect for Madison and westward. I will be monitoring this closely. As Hawing noted, severe storms are especially dangerous after dark, so be careful!!!

[NeedMoreFans]

Right on cue. As I was reading your post, I saw the screen crawl, but it's a tornado watch, not a thunderstorm watch.

[hawing]

Honestly, if I didn't need to get what little sleep I can before the storms hit, I'd suggest a "stormy night" chat.

[trwi7]

I'm up for a stormy chat if anybody else wants to.

 

I can give you minute by minute updates.

 

10:19: I hear crickets and see a raccoon. No rain in the vicinity.

[hawing]

It just rained on the west side of Madison! For about a minute! End days!

 

Edit: then, a minute later, one clap of thunder and now more rain. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[owbc]

I also heard that one clap of thunder downtown.

 

The whole thing is already evolving into an MCS. The main threat will be straight-line winds for Madison although I'm not ruling out tornadoes for at least another hour.