Name: Flood in Wisconsin, August 22, 2001
Start: 2001-08-22T12:30
End: 2001-08-22T14:00
Location: Wisconsin

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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.

Thunderstorms dumped around an inch of rain in 30 minutes, resulting in urban flooding in the city of Milwaukee. Law enforcement officials reported that water depths reached 2 feet on Interstate 94 westboud at 26th Street. No damage was noted, but interstate traffic was backed up for a couple hours.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Aug 22, 2:43 AM CST, 9 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 2:43 AM CST, 9 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
343 AM CDT WED AUG 22 2001

FORECAST FOCUS ON CURRENT PRECIP.

SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS LOW PRESSURE OVER WRN IA WITH WARM FRONT
EXTENDING INTO ERN IA SEWD INTO WRN IL. A COLD FRONT IS LOCATED
ALONG THE MN/CANADIAN BORDER WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH STRONG
SHORTWAVE PROGRESSING EWD ACROSS HUDSON BAY.

35 KT LLJ AND SHORTWAVE TROUGH SUPPORTING CONVECTION OVER CNTRL AND
SRN WI. MODELS AGREE ON AXIS OF LLJ BECOMING ESTABLISHED OVER
ILLINOIS AND INDIANA LATER THIS MORNING...THEREBY ENDING CURRENT
CONVECTION. WARM FRONT TO STALL OVER FAR SRN WI AS CANADIAN COLD
FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTH. ONLY WEAK SFC CONVERGENCE WILL
RESULT BUT WITH SOME SUNSHINE EXPECTED ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL WI IN
WAKE OF CURRENT CONVECTION...THERE MAY BE A CHANCE FOR MORE
THUNDERSTORMS. WILL MENTION 30 POPS IN THE AFTERNOON...AND CARRY
INTO THE EVENING FOR SRN CWA.

UPPER RIDGE TO BUILD ACROSS THE MIDDLE USA AND CANADA THROUGH
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH STRONG SFC HIGH NEAR HUDSON BAY. NORTHEAST
WINDS AND CLEAR SKIES EXPECTED. GUIDANCE TEMPS MAY BE A LITTLE TO
COOL FOR THURSDAY...BUT TEMPS WILL BE DETERMINED ON STRENGTH OF NE
WINDS. HAVE COMPROMISED WITH ETA 2M HIGH TEMPS AND GUIDANCE TEMPS
FOR THU. OTHERWISE GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK GOOD.

.MKX...NONE

MG

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Milwaukee

When: August 22, 12:30 PM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Milwaukee County, Milwaukee
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.022, -87.929 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, August 2001

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: 5266847.