Alert archive / Wisconsin / Beach Hazards Statements in 2026
Beach Hazards Statement 17, NWS Milwaukee, WI
NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this beach hazards statement at Aug 14, 2026, 1:32 PM CDT for Milwaukee County, Ozaukee County, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. It took effect at Aug 15, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT. It was in force for 11 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 14, 2026, 1:32 PM CDT (18:32 UTC)
- In effect from
- Aug 15, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT
- Expired
- Aug 15, 2026, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 11 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Milwaukee, WI
Counties Milwaukee County, WI, Ozaukee County, WI, Sheboygan County, WI
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:36 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 text
As transmitted.
322 WHUS43 KMKX 141832 CFWMKX Lakeshore Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 132 PM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 WIZ052-060-066-150245- /O.NEW.KMKX.BH.S.0017.260815T1300Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 132 PM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Life threatening waves of 3 to 5 feet and dangerous currents are expected. * WHERE...Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties. * WHEN...From Saturday morning through Saturday evening. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming conditions are expected due to high waves and onshore winds. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and breakwalls. Strong structural and longshore currents are expected. Rip currents are possible. && $$
5 follow-up statements
869 WHUS43 KMKX 142349 CFWMKX Lakeshore Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 649 PM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 WIZ052-060-066-150800- /O.CON.KMKX.BH.S.0017.260815T1300Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 649 PM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Life threatening waves of 3 to 5 feet and dangerous currents are expected. * WHERE...Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties. * WHEN...From Saturday morning through Saturday evening. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming conditions are expected due to high waves and onshore winds. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and breakwalls. Strong structural and longshore currents are expected. Rip currents are possible. && $$ Sheppard
274 WHUS43 KMKX 150542 CFWMKX Lakeshore Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 1242 AM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 WIZ052-060-066-151345- /O.CON.KMKX.BH.S.0017.260815T1300Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 1242 AM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM CDT THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Life threatening waves of 3 to 5 feet and dangerous currents are expected. * WHERE...Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties. * WHEN...From 8 AM CDT this morning through this evening. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming conditions are expected due to high waves and onshore winds. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and breakwalls. Strong structural and longshore currents are expected. Rip currents are possible. && $$ Sheppard
332 WHUS43 KMKX 151105 CFWMKX Lakeshore Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 605 AM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 WIZ052-060-066-151915- /O.CON.KMKX.BH.S.0017.260815T1300Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 605 AM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Life threatening waves of 3 to 5 feet and dangerous currents are expected. * WHERE...Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties. * WHEN...Through this evening. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming conditions are expected due to high waves and onshore winds. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and breakwalls. Strong structural and longshore currents are expected. Rip currents are possible. && $$
507 WHUS43 KMKX 151754 CFWMKX Lakeshore Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 1254 PM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 WIZ052-060-066-160000- /O.CON.KMKX.BH.S.0017.000000T0000Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 1254 PM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Life threatening waves of 3 to 5 feet and dangerous currents are expected. * WHERE...Sheboygan, Ozaukee and Milwaukee Counties. * WHEN...Through this evening. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming conditions are expected due to high waves and onshore winds. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Stay out of the water and away from dangerous areas like piers and breakwalls. Strong structural and longshore currents are expected. Rip currents are possible. && $$
796 WHUS43 KMKX 152349 CFWMKX Coastal Hazard Message National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 649 PM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 WIZ052-060-066-160100- /O.EXP.KMKX.BH.S.0017.000000T0000Z-260816T0000Z/ Sheboygan-Ozaukee-Milwaukee- 649 PM CDT Sat Aug 15 2026 ...BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT WILL EXPIRE AT 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING... Waves will continue to slowly diminish this evening into tonight across Ozaukee and Sheboygan county beaches. 1-3 foot waves are expected through the overnight hours. $$
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this beach hazards statement went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Milwaukee, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this beach hazards statement went out at Aug 14, 10:54 AM CDT, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Mainly dry through today. An isolated shower is possible near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.
- Potential for storms to lift into southern WI tonight into Saturday morning (50-80% chances) delivering a soaking rainfall. Note that there is also a chance (20-50%) for this activity to miss us entirely, tracking elsewhere through the Midwest.
- Additional shower and storm chances Saturday night into Sunday, but severe storm potential and rain amounts have trended lower.
- Drier and more comfortable into early next week, with storm chances returning by midweek.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 10:54 AM CDT, 2 hours 38 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 1054 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Mainly dry through today. An isolated shower is possible near the Wisconsin-Illinois border. - Potential for storms to lift into southern WI tonight into Saturday morning (50-80% chances) delivering a soaking rainfall. Note that there is also a chance (20-50%) for this activity to miss us entirely, tracking elsewhere through the Midwest. - Additional shower and storm chances Saturday night into Sunday, but severe storm potential and rain amounts have trended lower. - Drier and more comfortable into early next week, with storm chances returning by midweek. && .UPDATE... Issued 1055 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 Have pulled back on precip probabilities through this afternoon given ongoing and anticipated trends. Current water vapor imagery shows an MCV over the Missouri Valley, with a compensating area of shortwave ridging in place immediately downstream/over southern Wisconsin. Surface observations reveal a bifurcated frontal pattern regionally, with a warm front draped over central Iowa, and an effective/convectively-modified boundary extending from the Missouri-Iowa border southeast to the Ohio River. Placement of boundaries is leading to a "zoned" warm sector, with modest instability values in place along/south of the warm front & more extreme values restricted to the south of the southern boundary. Driven in large part by 850-700 mb warm advection north of the warm front, a prior band of showers is decaying over northeast Iowa & northern Illinois as it encounters the shortwave ridging/subsidence in place over southern Wisconsin. With the initial/leading band of showers falling apart, and the MCV-related forcing & warm sector not pulling into the area until this evening, have thus reduced precip probabilities through 7 PM, with a now entirely dry forecast prevailing through the afternoon across the majority of southern Wisconsin. Have maintained some ~15-30% values near the WI-IL border, where a light shower can't be entirely ruled out as better forcing begins to approach. Expect better rain chances post-sunset. Will be discussing this potential in greater detail in the early afternoon update. Quigley && .SHORT TERM... Issued 1250 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 Today through Saturday: The existing line of thunderstorms spanning from east IA to central IL should slowly sag southward through the predawn hours this morning, leaving us with dry weather. A decaying complex of storms originating from IA may clip far southwestern WI post-dawn this morning based on 00z CAM guidance (20-50% chance, mainly for Lafayette and Green county only), though instability would be extremely limited if it even makes it here (likely not enough for thunder, but included slight chances to play it safe). Additional shower and storm activity near and south / southwest of the state border will continue through the daytime hours today, with slight chances for a stray cell to drift and decay into our region. Higher and more widespread chances for showers and thunderstorms arrive tonight into Saturday morning as weak low pressure lifts northeast from KS, but there is plenty of uncertainty on how this will play out. I really mean it when I say "uncertainty" this time... check out the 14.00z HRRR: two nocturnal convective complexes initiate, one crashes through northern IL, the other through far northwest WI, and southern WI gets dry weather. Then for another scenario, check out the 13.21z RAP, 14.00z NAM and NAM NEST, the southern convective complex crashes into southern WI and delivers widespread rainfall lasting through early Saturday afternoon. In either scenario, instability is very limited (HREF mean MUCAPE below 500 joules). Not expecting any strong to severe storms, just efficient rainfall if applicable. Sheppard && .LONG TERM... Issued 1250 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 Saturday night through Thursday: Weak low pressure continues east from the Great Lakes region on Sunday, likely deepening slightly and dragging a cold front across WI. The exact arrival time for the front is not yet certain, but the initial NW wind shift is currently favored for the early morning (predawn) hours, followed by the arrival of lower dewpoints (low 60s or potentially even 50s) on these same winds and / or a secondary backdoor cold front (with NE winds) Sunday afternoon. In the 500mb pattern, we do have a 500mb shortwave trough that could phase well with the warm sector over IN / IL Sunday afternoon, but that doesn't leave us much to work with in southern WI. A round of showers or weak thunderstorms along the initial frontal passage Saturday night into Sunday morning would also (potentially) leave some cloud cover to interfere with peak heating, limiting the instability when the afternoon secondary baroclinic zone / backdoor cold front arrives. All this to say Sunday's storm setup leaves a lot in question, but the odds of any strong to severe storms are relatively low for now. Overall rain chances 50-65%, peaking early Sunday morning and tapering into the afternoon. Predominantly dry weather expected Sunday night into Tuesday morning as high pressure passes overhead, with temperatures near seasonal norms. Shower and thunderstorm chances return late Tuesday through midweek as a surface trough of low pressure sweeps east across the midwest. Sheppard && .AVIATION... Issued 655 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 Fog and lower ceilings this morning may linger for another hour or so, but will lift as temps warm and easterly winds increase through the morning. While cannot rule out a stray shower in southwestern or south-central WI today, expecting mostly dry conditions and breezy easterly through the afternoon. Then this evening looking at shower chances increase from southwest to northeast later this evening into Saturday morning with moderate to heavy rainfall and better thunderstorm potential along with lower flight conditions for areas closer to the WI/IL border. Wagner && .MARINE... Issued 1250 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 Synopsis: Multiple rounds of storms are expected to cross the southern portion of Lake Michigan into this weekend due to a front that remains in place south of the lake. Low pressure of 29.7 inches over Kansas will track to the northeast and east toward southern Lake Michigan into tonight and Saturday. This low should help to bump up winds and waves across the southern two thirds of Lake Michigan into Saturday. Beyond this system, a broad ridge of high pressure of 30.1 inches will push into the Great Lakes early next week before another potential front moves through the region midweek. Nearshore Zones: Breezy southeast winds and building waves are expected late tonight into Saturday, with Small Craft Advisory conditions possible. Sheppard && .MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...None. LM...None. && Visit us at weather.gov/milwaukee Follow us on Facebook, X, and YouTube at: www.facebook.com/NWSMilwaukee www.x.com/NWSMilwaukee www.youtube.com/NWSMilwaukee
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 14, 6:31 AM CDT, 7 hours 1 minute before
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 631 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-151145- Marquette-Green Lake-Fond du Lac-Sheboygan-Sauk-Columbia-Dodge- Washington-Ozaukee-Iowa-Dane-Jefferson-Waukesha-Milwaukee- Lafayette-Green-Rock-Walworth-Racine-Kenosha- 631 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of east central Wisconsin, south central Wisconsin and southeast Wisconsin. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Chances for shower and storms near the WI/IL border through the day, but increasing tonight for southwest WI. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Periodic thunderstorm chances continue for the weekend and cannot rule out stronger storms into Saturday. Elevated swim risk for Lake Michigan beaches this weekend. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. LMZ643>646-151145- Sheboygan to Port Washington WI- Port Washington to North Point Light WI- North Point Light to Wind Point WI- Wind Point WI to Winthrop Harbor IL- 631 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the nearshore waters from Sheboygan Wisconsin to Winthrop Harbor Illinois. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Chances for shower and storms near the WI/IL border tonight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Additional rounds of thunderstorms possible through the weekend and cannot rule out stronger storms at times. Small Craft Advisory conditions possible Saturday. LMZ080-261-362-364-366-563-565-567-669-671-673-675-777-779-868- 870-872-874-876-878-151145- Lake Michigan Michigan City IN to St. Joseph MI 5 NM offshore to mid-line of lake.- Lake Michigan from Seul Choix Point to Rock Island Passage 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan South of a line from Seul Choix Point to the Mackinac Bridge and North of a line from Charlevoix MI to South Fox Island 5NM offshore- Lake Michigan from Charlevoix to Point Betsie MI 5NM Offshore to mid lake- Lake Michigan from Point Betsie to Manistee MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Rock Island Passage to Sturgeon Bay WI 5NM offshore to mid lake- Lake Michigan from Sturgeon Bay to Two Rivers WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Two Rivers to Sheboygan WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Sheboygan to Port Washington WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Port Washington to North Point Light WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from North Point Light to Wind Point WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Wind Point WI to Winthrop Harbor IL 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Winthrop Harbor to Wilmette Harbor IL 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City in 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Pentwater to Manistee MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Whitehall to Pentwater MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Grand Haven to Whitehall MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Holland to Grand Haven MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from South Haven to Holland MI 5NM offshore to Mid lake- Lake Michigan from St Joseph to South Haven MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- 631 AM CDT Fri Aug 14 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the open waters of Lake Michigan. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Chances for showers and thunderstorms over the southern third of the lake later today/tonight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Additional rounds of thunderstorms possible through the weekend and cannot rule out stronger storms at times, especially for southern portions of the Lake. www.weather.gov/mkx
The office that day
Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 1:34 PM CDT | Small Craft Advisory | MKX | 29 hr |
Nearby
Beach Hazards Statements in Wisconsin, 2026Every beach hazards statement in 2026
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.