Wisconsin, 2002

Hail in Wisconsin, May 30, 2002

May 30, 2002 · NWS MKX · 7 events in 6 counties and zones

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed and moved southeast across parts of south-central Wisconsin. Large hail, up to golf-ball size, resulted thanks to a cold, northwest flow pattern aloft coupled with moderate to strong low-level warm air advection.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
7

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.

Scattered severe thunderstorms developed and moved southeast across parts of south-central Wisconsin. Large hail, up to golf-ball size, resulted thanks to a cold, northwest flow pattern aloft coupled with moderate to strong low-level warm air advection. The storms occurred along and ahead of a surface trough of low-pressure which preceded a cold front. The thunderstorm updraft towers were fairly strong thanks to maximum temperatures in the mid 80s and CAPES of 2000-2500J/KG, which led to several funnel cloud reports. WSR-88D Doppler radar imagery indicated only weak low to mid level rotation. One storm chaser report from Dodge county indicated that a funnel cloud, persisting for about 8 minutes, developed after the updraft/cloud base had started to decay.

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 May 30, 1:30 PM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 1:30 PM CST, 4 hours 20 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
230 PM CDT THU MAY 30 2002

FCST FOCUS ON SEVERE STORM CHC FOR THIS EVENING...THEN PROGRESSIVE
PATTERN BRINGS CHCY PCPN FOR FAR S SAT AND ACRS THE ENTIRE CWA ON
SUNDAY.

STRONG JET STREAK WILL CONTINUE TO ESTABLISH ITSELF OVR NRN PLAINS
AND UPPER MIDWEST. H8 WARM AIR ADVECTION COUPLED WITH AN H5 S/W
HELPING TO GENERATE SVR STORMS OVER ECNTRL AND NE AREAS AT MID
AFTERNOON.  BEHIND THIS AREA IS A SFC CDFNT NOW MOVING INTO NW WI.
HOWEVER...SUPPORT ALOFT IS LIMITED BY A LACK OF A DISCERNABLE S/W.
IN FAVOR OF CONVECTION IS PURE INSTABILITY AS SFC TEMPS HEAT WELL
INTO THE 80S.  STRONG WIND SHEAR WILL DEVELOP JUST AHEAD AND ALONG OF
TROUGH LINE IN RESPONSE TO JET STREAK AND WAA/VEERING WIND PROFILE.
CAPES ARE PUSHING 2000/2500J/KG ALREADY WITH SFC BASED LI/S NEAR -7.
BEST SHEAR IS TO THE NORTH AND SHOULD KEEP TORNADO THREAT OUT OF THE
CWA.  MAIN THREAT THIS EVENING WILL BE WIND AND HAIL FOR MKX CWA.

RAPID CLEARING WITH TROF/FNT PASSAGE. THICKNESS/H8 TEMPS DON/T CRASH
ON FRIDAY AND SHOULD BE A NICE DAY UNDER HIGH PRESSURE AND SFC TEMPS
STILL REACHING 80.

ON SATURDAY...A QUICK MOVING BUT WEAK LOW IS PROGD TO TRACK IN. SOME
WEAK WAA AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE MAY LEAD TO SHOWERS AND STORMS
ACRS THE SRN HALF OF THE CWA.  CHC/S LOOK SMALL AT THIS POINT AND
SATURDAY SHOULD BE A NICE DAY OVERALL.  A MORE IMPRESSIVE LOW
ARRIVES FOR SUNDAY WITH A STRONGER OVER-RUNNING PATTERN.  WILL
CONTINUE MENTION OF PCPN.

COOLER WEATHER THEN THROUGH MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK AS A GENERAL N OR NE
WIND FLOW KEEPS THE HOT AIR SOUTH AND WEST.

.MKX...NONE.

DAVIS

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 3 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Sauk

When
May 30, 5:50 PM CST
Where
Sauk County, 6 mi W of Spring Green
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates
43.183, -90.183

Hail, Iowa

When
May 30, 6:02 PM CST
Where
Iowa County, Arena
Measured
1.75 in hail
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates
43.167, -89.917

Hail, Marquette

When
May 30, 6:06 PM CST to 6:15 PM CST
Where
Marquette County, 2 mi NNE of Briggsville
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
POST OFFICE
Coordinates
43.683, -89.567

Hail, Columbia

When
May 30, 6:15 PM CST to 6:20 PM CST
Where
Columbia County, 6 mi NNE of Portage
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
POST OFFICE
Coordinates
43.633, -89.400

Funnel Cloud, Iowa

When
May 30, 6:18 PM CST
Where
Iowa County, Ridgeway
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates
43.001, -90.135 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Funnel Cloud, Dane

When
May 30, 6:36 PM CST
Where
Dane County, Blue Mounds
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates
43.067, -89.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Funnel Cloud, Dodge

When
May 30, 6:40 PM CST
Where
Dodge County, Beaver Dam
Reported by
STORM CHASER
Coordinates
43.416, -88.707 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
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

More

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, May 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: 5296555, 5296482, 5296483, 5296484, 5296556, 5296557, 5296558.