Alert archive / Wisconsin / Flash Flood Warnings in 1986

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Milwaukee, WI

August 6, 1986Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this flash flood warning at Aug 6, 1986, 1:03 PM CDT for Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 117 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 6, 1986, 1:03 PM CDT (18:03 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1986, 3:00 PM CDT
In force
117 min
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

County Milwaukee County, WI

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 163 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1986-08-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1986-08-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 1 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
752 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMKE 061803
FFWMKE
WIC079-062000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
103 PM CDT WED AUG 6 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN...MILWAUKEE

AT 1  PM...RADAR SHOWED HEAVY RAIN ACROSS MUCH OF MILWAUKEE
COUNTY.  NEARLY 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN SINCE THIS MORNING
AT MITCHELL INTERNATIONAL AIPORT.

HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE IN MILWAUKEE COUNTY THROUGH 3 PM CDT..
AND WILL LIKELY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING DURING THIS TIME.

IF YOU ARE IN YOUR CAR AND IT STALLS NEAR A RIVER..ABANDON IT AND
FLEE TO HRIGHER GROUND. DONT ATTEMPT CROSSING SWOLLEN STREAMS.
CURRENTS AND RAPIDLY RISING WATER CAN SWEEP YOU OFF YOUR FEET.

STUREY

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 12:20 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
1215 PM WED AUG 6 1986

...SOAKING RAIN ACROSS SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN...

AT 1210 PM...LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN WITH A FEW AREAS OF HEAVIER RAIN..
IN THUNDERSTORMS..COVERED MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN.  RAIN WAS
LOCATED IN AN AREA FROM NEAR MADISON NORTHEAST THROUGH THE FOND DU
LAC AND SHEBOYGAN AREAS..THEN SOUTH FROM SHEBOYGAN TO RACINE.  FROM
RACINE..RAIN EXTENDED WEST THROUGH JANESVILLE BACK TO MADISON.

HEAVIEST RAIN WAS LOCATED IN SOUTHERN WAUKESHA AND SOUTHERN MILWAUKEE
COUNTIES.

AN OBSERVER ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE CITY OF BURLINGTON RECORDED
/4.30/  INCHES OF RAIN THE PAST 24 HOURS. BURLINGTON SEWAGE TREATMENT
PLANT REPORTED /2.50/ INCHES THE PAST 24 HOURS.  OTHER REPORTS FROM
COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS WERE IN THE ONE HALF /0.50/ TO THREE QUARTERS
/0.75/ INCH RANGE.
RAIN WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
^
RAIN WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN THE NEXT COUPLE
OF HOURS FROM SOUTH TO NORTH.  HOWEVER..LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL
STILL BE POSSIBLE IN THUNDERSTORMS.

SOME PONDING OF WATER AND LOWLAND FLOODING WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE IN
HEAVIER RAIN.

STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR FURTHER UPDATES).

STUREY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 2:36 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXMilwaukee3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Wisconsin, 1986Every flash flood warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.