Alert archive / Wisconsin / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 16, 1999Sauk County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this flash flood warning at May 16, 1999, 10:10 PM CDT for Sauk County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 1999, 10:10 PM CDT (03:10 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1999, 1:10 AM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

County Sauk County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:13 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 189 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1410 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 202 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1410 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
821 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
387 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
4.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMKE 170312
FFWMKE
WIC049-065-111-170610-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1010 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  IOWA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  LAFAYETTE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  SAUK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 110 AM CDT

* AT 1010 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN COVERING MUCH OF
  SAUK...IOWA AND LAFAYETTE COUNTIES...MOVING SLOWLY NORTHEAST.

* DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES RAINFALL OF 1 TO 2 INCHES IN THE PAST
  HOUR ON TOP OF THE PREVIOUS HEAVY RAINS EARLIER THIS EVENING.
  THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINS AND INTENSE LIGHTNING
  WILL CONTINUE AT LEAST UNTIL MIDNIGHT THUS FLASH FLOODING IS
  LIKELY.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGER OF FLOODING.

JH/SD

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

Local storm report, May 16, 8:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
802 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0625 PM    WEST BEND                 WI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/16/99   WASHINGTON

0635 PM    WATERFORD                 WI    64 MPH TSTM GUST
05/16/99   RACINE

0735 PM    KENOSHA                   WI    1.75 INCH HAIL
05/16/99   KENOSHA

GD
Local storm report, May 16, 8:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
802 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0625 PM    WEST BEND                 WI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/16/99   WASHINGTON

0635 PM    WATERFORD                 WI    64 MPH TSTM GUST
05/16/99   RACINE

0735 PM    KENOSHA                   WI    1.75 INCH HAIL
05/16/99   KENOSHA

GD

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXKenosha63 min
May 16, 9:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXLafayette60 min
May 16, 9:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXIowa60 min
May 16, 10:10 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXIowa, Lafayette3 hr
May 16, 10:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXGreen, Lafayette58 min
May 16, 10:43 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXColumbia, Marquette3 hr
May 16, 11:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDane59 min
May 16, 11:23 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXGreen3 hr
May 17, 12:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXRock60 min
May 17, 1:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXWalworth61 min
May 17, 1:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXKenosha, Racine60 min
May 17, 4:10 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXGreen, Lafayette14 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Wisconsin, 1999Every flash flood warning in 1999

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.