Funnel Cloud, Door
- When
- September 21, 3:20 PM CST
- Where
- Door County, 20 mi SW of Sturgeon Bay
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 44.838, -87.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Funnel Cloud in Wisconsin, September 21, 2001
A funnel cloud developed over the Bay of Green Bay as cool air moved across the relatively warm waters of the bay.
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
- 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 GRB wrote it up.
A funnel cloud developed over the Bay of Green Bay as cool air moved across the relatively warm waters of the bay.
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 Green Bay, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 21, 2:30 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 21, 2:30 PM CST, 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREEN BAY WI 330 PM CDT FRI SEP 21 2001 PRECIP TRENDS OVER THE NEXT WEEK WILL BE A BIG DILEMMA. WV IMAGERY SHOWED A POTENT UPPER LOW SHIFTING EAST THROUGH SOUTHERN LOWER MI. LOOKING UPSTREAM...ANOTHER S/W TROF WAS SEEN OVER NE ND... AND A STRONGER WAVE NOTED OVER WEST-CNTRL ALBERTA. SCT SHRA HAD DEVELOPED OVER NE MN AND FAR NW WI...IN ADVANCE OF THE NE ND VORT. QUICK-MOVG S/W TROF WILL PASS THROUGH CNTRL WI OVERNIGHT...BRINGING SCT -SHRA TO MAINLY NC/NE WI...SO HAVE ADDED SMALL POPS TO COVER. REST OF CWA SHOULD SEE PLENTY OF MID/HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS...SO DONT EXPECT FOG TO BE A BIG PROBLEM. GUIDANCE HAS BEEN TOO COOL FOR LOWS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS...SO ADJUSTED NUMBERS UPWARD ACCORDINGLY. SOME SUNSHINE IS EXPECTED SAT MORNING...BUT EXPECT CLOUDS TO QUICKLY INCREASE AS THE NEXT...MORE SIGNIFICANT S/W TROF APPROACHES LATE IN THE DAY. HAVE ADDED A SMALL POP TO THE NW 1/2 OF GRB CWA LATE. STG CORE OF LIFT DUE TO DPVA...UPPER DIVG IN THE LFQ OF UPPER JET AND LLVL MOISTURE CONVG WILL SHIFT THROUGH GRB CWA SAT NGT...WITH WIDESPREAD RAIN AND EMBEDDED TSTMS EXPECTED. SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE ON SUNDAY AS THE UPPER TROF PASSES THROUGH AND LLVL CYCLONIC FLOW CONTINUES. MUCH COOLER AIR PLUGES SOUTHWARD INTO WI SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH H8 TEMPS BLO FREEZING ACROSS MOST OF WI BY MONDAY MORNING. HAVE FOLLOWED THE COOL MAV GUIDANCE. HAVE OPTED TO USE THE PESSIMISTIC AVN/MRF FOR MON-FRI TIME FRAME. A SLOWER PROGRESSION OF THE UPPER TROF AND EVENTUAL RETROGRADING OF THE UPPER LOW SEEMS TO BE A FAVORED SOLN GIVEN THE EXPECTED HIGH AMPLITUDE OF THE DEVELOPING PATTERN. ALSO...LOW PRESSURE AND CYCLONIC LLVL FLOW IS SUPPORTED WITH A COLD SYSTEM OVER THE WSTRN GREAT LKS THIS TIME OF YEAR DUE TO THE HEAT FLUX OFF THE RELATIVELY WARM WATERS. CONFIDENCE IN THIS PART OF THE FCST IS OBVIOUSLY NOT REAL HIGH...ESP SINCE ENSEMBLE FCSTS HINT AT A GRADUAL EASTWARD PROGRESSION OF THE UPPER TROF DURING THE WEEK. COORD WITH MKX AND MQT...THANKS. .GRB...NONE. KIECKBUSCH WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/GRB
The radar
The Green Bay radar (KGRB), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:21 UTC.
Event by event
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, September 21, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Ohio, September 21, 2001
- Hail and Lightning Strike in Michigan, September 21, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Louisiana, September 21, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Louisiana, September 21, 2001
- Hail in Texas, September 21, 2001
- Hail in Michigan, September 21, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Texas, September 21, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, September 21 to 22, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Connecticut, September 21, 2001
- High Surf in Hawaii, September 21, 2001
- Flash Flood in Puerto Rico, September 21, 2001
More
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, September 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: 5267541.