The 2009 Wisconsin Spring/Summer thread

[NeedMoreFans]

By bang, I hope you are not meaning severe. We're headed camping this weekend, and it would be nice to not have to worry about hail/high wind/tornadoes/heavy rain.

[burniebrewer]

If the weather hits Saturday night, think of all of the people attending Rhythm and Booms.

[hawing]

If the weather hits Saturday night, think of all of the people attending Rhythm and Booms.

Yep, not the kind of "bang" you want with 250,000+ people at Warner Park, plus thousands watching from other sites.

 

R&B was in that position 2-3 years ago, when a storm with rotation was in Sauk County headed southeast, maybe 7:00 or 7:30 or so.

We had just stepped out of the Subway at Randall and University and saw major darkness to the northwest, then went to the S.O.'s library to check the radar (which looked as threatening as the clouds did). Then we heard on the radio (remember, bring your radio! tuned in to WOLX!) that they called off the show and we walked home quickly. Given how many people could have been caught out in the open, I think they made the right call.

[brewdude15]

It just thunderstormed here in Fond du Lac for about 2 minutes. It's now back to sunny and hot. Why must we be teased!?

[owbc]

Weather is going to be a big concern for Rhythm and Booms. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know where/when the storms will hit at this time. We are expecting the storms to fire during the say in Iowa/Minnesota and then move into Wisconsin sometime in the evening/overnight as a cold front moves through and finally ends the heat wave. The storms should be in the form of a squall line with possible severe thunderstorm watches/warnings due to the possibility of high winds.

 

I'll know more tomorrow at this time.

 

Edit: Update on the fireworks--still looking like the best chance for the Madison area will be from 6 PM - 9 PM with isolated showers/storms before and after that. Bob's morning forecast was still confident that the storms would be gone by the fireworks, but the meteorologists here at Weather Central are much less optimistic.

[hawing]

Yeah, we noticed Bob Lindmeier insisting on the news Thursday night that the storms will have pushed through by the scheduled start time of 9:30 Saturday night...but part of me wonders if he'd be as confident if channel 27 weren't a major sponsor of Rhythm & Booms.

 

OWBC, you guys in OAS must have a pretty sweet (and climate controlled) vantage point for watching from afar?

[owbc]

The problem with the AOS building is that the windows are very tiny, so you would actually have to sit awkwardly on a ledge in order to see out them. The view from the roof would probably be very good though. I will be missing it (again) this year due to work...

[hawing]

So, Rhythm & Booms just decided to postpone to Sunday, due to anticipated severe weather. I guess with a former TV weatherman at the helm, they ought to know.

In a Murphy's Law sense, however, this would suggest that everything will blow over Dane County.

[owbc]

Terry Kelly has been running a high resolution weather forecast model centered on Madison, WI specifically to predict the timing of rain for the fireworks. Needless to say, the output had a line of thunderstorms pounding Dane County for several hours in the early evening. Better to make the call earlier and be safe rather than having everyone heading out for no reason. Edit: T-storm watch issued, as expected for all of southern WI

[burniebrewer]

I can't speak for the Warner Park area, but over on the west side, we've had nothing but drizzle for 5 minutes and it appears on radar that the first wave has already passed.

[hawing]

Some rain, but nothing big on the near west side either. However, I see where Terry et al. were coming from. One poorly placed lightning bolt in a packed Warner Park and you have yourself a bigger problem.

[brewdude15]

The sky is a canary yellow/maize here in Fond du Lac.

[burniebrewer]

Some rain, but nothing big on the near west side either. However, I see where Terry et al. were coming from. One poorly placed lightning bolt in a packed Warner Park and you have yourself a bigger problem.

I see where they're coming from and they tried to save people some time, but calling them off so early is proving to be a mistake.

 

They really couldn't win on this one.

[hawing]

They really couldn't win on this one.

On that, we can certainly agree.

[owbc]

Of course the storms fail to materialize after they cancel the fireworks...that's how it always goes. I suspect the very strong storms in Iowa/Illinois were the culprit. The weather is much better tonight anyway, plus I actually will be able to make it now!

[NeedMoreFans]

I saw this advertised on TV tonight...

 

Weather Call

 

Bob Lindmeier on Channel 27 can call you when there is bad weather outside!

[owbc]

There's big money in warning systems like that--especially for businesses/outdoor events

[NeedMoreFans]

I was reading the forecast for the weekend, and according to the NWS, Friday could get interesting. In the forecast discussion, they mentioned that Friday is shaping up to resemble a pretty significant tornado outbreak in Wisconsin...June 23, 2004 (June 23, 2004 Severe Weather Summary)

 

I remember this night pretty well. A tornado touched down in the Madison city limits near Westgate Mall, and proceeded just south of campus and downtown. I saw this as a funnel, after the damage was done, and it disappeared into the sky, with the sky rotating above it. Perhaps one of the scariest things I have ever seen.

[hawing]

I was reading the forecast for the weekend, and according to the NWS, Friday could get interesting. In the forecast discussion, they mentioned that Friday is shaping up to resemble a pretty significant tornado outbreak in Wisconsin...June 23, 2004 (June 23, 2004 Severe Weather Summary)

 

I remember this night pretty well. A tornado touched down in the Madison city limits near Westgate Mall, and proceeded just south of campus and downtown. I saw this as a funnel, after the damage was done, and it disappeared into the sky, with the sky rotating above it. Perhaps one of the scariest things I have ever seen.

As with so many, many stormy days and nights over the last 20 years, we were at a Brewer game on the night NMF refers to. WTMJ broke in to the game broadcast so often that I almost started losing track of the game. I think every county from south central Wisconsin east to the lake had a tornado warning that night, except Milwaukee County. I remember hoping that the game (a close one with the Rockies) would go into extra innings so we wouldn't have to leave just as the severe thunderstorm reached Milwaukee, but no such luck.

 

Then, on the way home, someone on WTMJ casually mentioned that there had been a tornado in Madison. So I called my sister in Middleton, who I knew would be up (with her then-five-day-old daughter), but couldn't hear much over the baby crying. Then I called our answering machine at home, and found a message from my brother in Darlington, saying he'd seen on the 10:00 news that Madison was hit by a tornado and he hoped we weren't out at a Brewer game or anything. So I called him and got the word that there wasn't widespread heavy damage.

 

We got home and found our then-neighborhood (just south of campus, as NMF stated above) looking pretty much normal, went to bed, and thought little else of it. UNTIL we looked at the next morning's paper, the front page of which showed the Choles Floral on Regent St with a funnel cloud just above it and to the south...which meant it was pretty darn close to our then-house.

 

So, not a day I'd particularly care to relive, but we're due to go to MP on Friday, which means we might. I swear, if we had a dollar for every bout of severe weather we encountered on our many round trips between Madison and either County or Miller Park...it's not like we could sign a stud pitcher, but we could probably have a decent tailgate.

[hawing]

Ah, geez. The link provided by NMF a couple of posts up includes this photo which I hadn't seen before, with my workplace on the right side of the picture. This appears to be taken from the front of UW-Madison's Memorial Union, looking south.

 

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/document/tor/images/tor062304/msntornado4.jpg

 

Yikes!

I know OWBC is probably ready to wet his pants with excitement, but I really don't need anything like this while we're on the road, either to or from Milwaukee.

[owbc]

The Milwaukee NWS office is really jumping on this one. The situation is interesting but as with any severe weather outbreak, lots of factors have to go right (or wrong depending on how you look at it). Basically, a fast moving Alberta Clipper is going to move to the north of the area, but will tap into moist, unstable air from the south. Upper level wind shear favors supercells and the low level shear looks good for high tornado potential. As always, the big question is whether the cells will fire in the afternoon, ahead of the cold front.

 

The storm chasing message have starting going out between the other meteorologists that I know, so I will probably be chasing on Friday if the situation looks good. Two days ahead is still way too early to say anything for certain. In all likelihood we will see thunderstorms with a few being severe, but the potential for multiple tornadoes is there, so stay tuned.

 

Edit: Of course, it doesn't look so potent anymore today. I made my plans to drive to Milwaukee for the Brewers game instead of chasing.

[adamb100]

Well seeing as it's Friday the day the big storms were due a few days ago, has anything changed?

[burniebrewer]

Wow, no commentary on tonight's weather yet?

[JumpinMacFlash]

I was hitting baseballs in Merton an hour ago and was watching some pretty crazy clouds passing to the north. It looks like Hartland's just on the edge of it now. I really hope that something strong passes by while it's still light. I'd really like to get some nice photos.

[burniebrewer]

So far 7 counties have tornado warnings going on....