Flooding and Hail in Wisconsin, June 3, 2002

Three lines of severe thundrestorms moved east-southeast across south-central and southeast Wisconsin. The last line was the strongest of the three. Damaging, straightline winds were the most common type of severe weather, althought some large hail stones were spotted. Brief, torrential downpours accompanied some of the storms, especially in the counties of Dane, Racine and Kensoha. The toppled trees pulled down power lines near Fontana (Walworth Co.), and across much of Racine and Kenosha counties. The Racine Wastewater Treatment Plant registered a peak northwest wind gust of 58 kts (67 mph). In the cities of Sturtevant (Racine Co.) and Racine, 4 vehicles and 2 garages were damaged or destroyed due to felled trees. On another Racine home, the wind blew an old chimney down. At least another 4 homes in Racine had some gutter or siding damage. In Sturtevant, a flaf pole was bend 45 degrees, and a stored pontoon boat was flipped over. A covered wagon in Kansasville (Racine Co.) was damaged when the thunderstorm winds blew it over. Roof shingles were ripped off several homes in the city of Kenosha. One Kenosha home had a large tree fall on its roof, damaging the chimney, gutters, and wood trim. A large yacht was blown off its perch and into a fence near the Lake Michigan shoreline in downtown Kenosha, but sustained only minor damage. Lightning struck an apartment building in Stoughton (Dane Co.), starting a fire that left $20,000 in damage. In Fitchburg (Dane Co.), lightning struck a home and traveled down a pipe to the basement where a small fire started in a rubbish bin. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches generated some small stream flooding that pushed water over the roads in Sringfield Corners (Dane Co.). Up to 3.5 inches of rain fell in Menomonee Falls (Waukesha Co.) resulting in urban flooding, which extened east across northern Milwaukee County where 2 to 3 inches fell. Several roads in northern Milwaukee County had water up to 12 to 18 inches deep. Heavy rains in Racine County lead to hydroplaining problems on Interstate 94 where a semitrailer truck jack-knifed and rolled over at about 0730CST. A wake-low developed over southeastern Wisconsin on the west side of the 3rd line of storms, after it had moved east to over Lake Michigan. The pressure gradient between the thunderstorm-induced mesohigh over Lake Michigan and the wake low in the vicinity of Madison to Whitewater generated a high wind event over the eastern parts of the counties of Racine and Kenosha. Southeast winds gusted to 50 knots (58 mph) at the GLERL observation site on the shore of Lake Michigan in downtown Kenosha at 0900CST, and were equal to or greater than 35 kts (40 mph) betwen 0855 and 0955CST. Numerous trees were pushed down by the high winds, and a greenhouse on the UW-Parkside campus sustained window damage. Gusty southeast winds to 30 to 43 knots (35 to 50 mph) were noted over the remainder of southeast and south-central Wisconsin south of Interstate 94 and east of Interstate 90, resulting in many small branches breaking off of trees. The combination of severe thunderstorms followed by high winds resulted in 18,000 customers losing electrical power in the counties of Racine and Kenosha. About 200 lines were down either due to the winds or lightning.