Flood, Waukesha
- When
- July 27, 12:00 AM CST to 3:00 AM CST
- Where
- Waukesha County, Waukesha
- Reported by
- AMATEUR RADIO
- Coordinates
- 43.018, -88.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood in Wisconsin, July 27, 2002
36 inches of rain from 2330CST on July 26th to 0110CST on July 27th, resulting in urban flooding. Water depths on some city streets reached 1 foot.
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 MKX wrote it up.
Slow-moving thunderstorms over the city of Waukesha dumped 2.36 inches of rain from 2330CST on July 26th to 0110CST on July 27th, resulting in urban flooding. Water depths on some city streets reached 1 foot.
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 Jul 26, 1:25 PM CST, 10 hours 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 1:25 PM CST, 10 hours 35 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 225 PM CDT FRI JUL 26 2002 FCST FOCUS ON CHC CONVECTION TONIGHT THRU MONDAY...INCRSG TEMPS AND HEAT INDICES. MINOR S/W AND VORT SHEAR PASSING JUST TO THE SOUTH OF WI ATTM AND WILL DECIDE AT ISSUANCE TIME WHETHER TO LEAVE CHANCE OF TSTMS TIL AFTER MIDNIGHT OR NOT. LOWER 70S DEWPTS WERE COMMON AROUND SRN WI TODAY MAINLY DUE TO RESIDUAL MOISTURE FROM OVERNIGHT RAIN. HWVR... FCST TRAJ LEAVE LTL DOUBT THAT HIGHER DEWPTS WL BE ADVECTING INTO SRN WI DURG THE NEXT DAYS. IN ADDITION...HOTTER TEMPS (90S) PRESENTLY ACRS MID MISS VLY AND CNTRL PLNS WILL LIKELY ARRIVE FOR SUNDAY. ALTHO ETA/NGM/AVN MODEL MOS OUTPUT SEEM TO BE UNDERFCSTG TEMPS SATURDAY-SUNDAY...THE ETA MODEL GRAPHICS PLACES MID 90S INTO SCNTRL WI ON SUNDAY WHICH AGREES SMWHT WITH 92 FCST FOR MKE SUNDAY BY AVN. ALL OF THIS HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL ARRIVE IN SRN WI THANKS TO SW FLO AND ARRIVAL OF 30-40 KT LLJ (PSBLY STRGR BLO H850 LVL) BY 00Z SUN...WITH ETA H850 TEMPS OF +24C TO +26C FCST FROM 06-12Z SUNDAY... WHICH IS ABT 2 TO 4 DEGREES WARMER THAN EITHER NGM OR AVN. WITH SFC TEMPS RISING INTO THE MID 90S AND DEWPTS IN MID 70S...HEAT INDICES CREEP UP INTO THE 100 TO 105 DEGREE RANGE WHICH ARE NEARING HEAT ADVISORY CRITERIA. THE HOT SUNDAY SCENARIO WILL BE PRECEDED BY A FAIRLY MUGGY NIGHT. ALL OF THIS BEING SIMILAR TO LAST SUNDAYS HOT BURST. INITIAL SURGE OF WAA AND ISENT MAY TRIGGER SOME TSTMS LATE TONIGHT AS WEAK SFC BDNRY WORKS ITS WAY BACK TO THE NE. THERE APPEARS TO A WEAK WAVE MOVING EWD ACRS DAKS ATTM AS SEEN ON SAT PIX...HWVR DO NOT SEE ANY ONE PARTICULARLY STG FEATURE ON ANY OF THE MODELS. ANY SUBTLE FEATURE THAT SHUD COME ALONG IN FAST WESTERLY FLOW MAY KICK OFF TSTMS. THIS IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE ATMOSPHERE IS UNSTBL AND BECOMES EVEN MORE UNSTBL OVER THE WEEKEND. AS CAPE CLIMB TO NEAR 2000 J/KG SAT AFTN...A LOW LVL CAP KEEPS THE CIN AT ABT 108. THE ARRIVAL OF THE LLJ SATURDAY WITH IMPLIED SPEED CONVERGENCE MAY PROVIDE THE KICKER FOR A SVR WX EVENT SAT EVE. EVEN MORE UNSTBL SUNDAY AS CAPES RISE TO ALMOST 4000 J/KG WITH 55 CIN. MIXING RATIO GRADIENT AOB H700 INCREASES QUICKLY SATURDAY EVE RAISING THE PSBLTY OF LOCALIZED FLOODING IF TSTMS DO DVLP. XTNDD FCST...MRF SEEMS TO RENEGING ON COOLER DRIER REGIME AND HAS SETTLED FOR WARMER MID 80S AND DEWPTS IN THE 60S. OTRW LTL CHG WITH INTRO OF CHC TSTMS NEXT FRIDAY. .MKX...NONE.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 27 to 28, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in Texas, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, July 27, 2002
- Tornado in Florida, July 27, 2002
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Ohio, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flood in West Virginia, July 27, 2002
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, July 27, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Iowa, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kansas, July 27, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, July 27, 2002
More
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, July 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: 5308035.