Flash Flood, Columbia
- When
- August 4, 7:00 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
- Where
- Columbia County, Arlington
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 43.467, -89.334 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Wisconsin, August 4, 1998
A series of thunderstorms, slowly moving northeast at 10 mph, trained through southern Columbia Co. and dumped 5 to 7 inches of rain between 0500CST and 1000CST.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS MKX wrote it up.
A series of thunderstorms, slowly moving northeast at 10 mph, trained through southern Columbia Co. and dumped 5 to 7 inches of rain between 0500CST and 1000CST. The resultant flash flooding led to shoulder gravel washouts on several roads, basement flooding (especially in Lodi), storm sewer backups, quick flooding of area rivers and streams, and some damage to a city park.The large-scale atmospheric setup for this flash flood consisted of a cutoff upper level low pressure over the Northern Plains and the associated surface low over Iowa. From the surface low pressure a frontal boundary extended northeast through Wisconsin. This combination pulled deep tropical moisture (surface dewpoints in the 70s) into Wisconsin. The frontal boundary served as a focus for thunderstorm development. Through August 6th, the upper level low pressure meandered southeast into Iowa while the surface low pressure moved to the Wisconsin-Illinois border, along a souhwest-northeast orientated surface trough of low pressure.
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:01 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in California, August 4 to 6, 1998
- Flooding in Illinois, August 4, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Wind in New Mexico, August 4, 1998
- Flash Flooding in Indiana, August 4 to 5, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, August 4, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 4, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Florida, August 4, 1998
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Arkansas, August 4, 1998
- Flash Flooding in Michigan, August 4, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Florida, August 4, 1998
- Flood and Damaging Wind in Arkansas, August 4, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Illinois, August 4, 1998
More
Every storm in Wisconsin in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, August 1998
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5664528.