Name: Flood in Wisconsin, April 14 to 18, 2002
Start: 2002-04-14T18:00
End: 2002-04-18T18:00
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: $189,000
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 DLH wrote it up.

Dense snowpack, temperatures in the 80s, and heavy rain contributed to widespread flooding in central and southern Ashland County. Both the Bad and Chippewa Rivers flooded, closing roads in Mellin and Glidden. In Glidden, 20 homes and businesses were damaged by floodwaters of the north fork of the Chippewa River. A 100-yard stretch of Highway 13 was closed due to high water. Highway 169 between Mellin and U.S. Highway 2 was closed. Other small streams and creeks overflowed their banks and caused minor lowland flooding.

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 Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 14, 2:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 2:30 PM CST, 3 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
330 PM CDT SUN APR 14 2002

MAIN FOCUS IS TEMPS AND PCPN THREATS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

MODELS IN PRETTY DECENT AGREEMENT. MODELS DID HAVE SOME
INITIALIZATION PROBLEMS...BUT THINK PRIMARILY THIS WILL HAVE
LITTLE IMPACT ON OUR FORECAST NEXT COUPLE DAYS.

MID LEVEL VORT MOVING ACROSS THE INTL BORDER REGION WILL BRING A
CHANCE OF AN EVENING THUNDERSTORM TO THE NORTH TODAY...MAINLY
ACROSS THE NORTHERN TIER OF THE CWA. WILL ADD ISOLATED TSRA TO
THE NORTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING...GIVEN SUFFICIENT HEATING AND
LIFT TO FUEL THE STORMS. WITH THE SETTING SUN...THINK MOST OF THIS
ACTIVITY WILL QUICKLY DIMINISH.

MAIN STORY IS DEVELOPING WESTERN TROUGH...WITH AVN SHOWING THE
BEST CONTINUITY. DESPITE THIS...FEEL ETA WILL HAVE A BETTER HANDLE
ON THE WARM FRONT ACROSS NRN MN/WI ON MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY.
A WEAK WAVE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE NW CORNER OF THE CWA ON MONDAY.
WILL CONFINE POPS TO THAT AREA...WITH MOST OF THE CWA REMAINING
IN THE WARM AIR. ANOTHER LOW MOVING OUT OF THE COLORADO ROCKIES
WILL LIFT INTO MN BY TUESDAY. A WARM FRONT SHOULD HANG UP SOUTH
OF THE TWIN PORTS/IWD...AS WARM FRONTS OFTEN DUE THIS TIME OF YEAR
DUE TO THE COLD AIR OVER LAKE SUPERIOR.

TUESDAY LOOKS QUITE INTERESTING...AND AGREE WITH THE SPC DAY3 SEVERE
OUTLOOK WHICH INCLUDES OUR SOUTHERN ZONES. PRECIPITABLE WATER
VALUES APPROACH 1.4 INCHES ACROSS THE CWA...THANKS TO A FORMIDABLE
LOW LEVEL JET PUMPING THROUGH THE PLAINS. IT APPEARS THERE WILL
BE SUFFICIENT FRONTAL CONVERGENCE AND HEATING TO GENERATE SOME
THUNDERSTORMS. MOST SHOULD BE NORTH OF THE WARM FRONT...BUT BY
LATE AFTERNOON...A LINE OF STORMS SHOULD DEVELOP ALONG THE
FRONT FURTHER SOUTH. WITH SOME FLOODING ALREADY OCCURRING...WE
WILL NEED TO CLOSELY MONITOR ANY ADDITIONAL PRECIPITATION.

TEMPS WILL BE QUITE WARM...POSSIBLY NEAR 80 IN THE WARM SECTOR...BUT
NORTH OF THE WARM FRONT...EASTERLY WINDS AND COOL AIR WILL KEEP
TEMPERATURES MAINLY IN THE 50S AND 60S.

DAP

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, Ashland

When: April 14, 6:00 PM CST to April 18, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Ashland forecast zone
Property damage: $189,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 46.510, -90.720 (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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, April 2002

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: 5306173.