Flash Flooding and Hail in Wisconsin, June 25 to 26, 2006

Name: Flash Flooding and Hail in Wisconsin, June 25 to 26, 2006
Start: 2006-06-25T01:30
End: 2006-06-26T01:30
Location: Wisconsin

June 25 to 26, 2006 · NWS MKX · 11 events in 4 counties and zones

Very slow moving clusters of thunderstorms developed across south-central Wisconsin during the early afternoon hours of June 25th. ).

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 7 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $501 million
Crop damage: $1.7 million
Events: 11

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.

Very slow moving clusters of thunderstorms developed across south-central Wisconsin during the early afternoon hours of June 25th. Very heavy rains within these storms produced 3 to 5 inches of rain in some areas and resulted in flash flooding near Sun Prairie (Dane Co., Wyocena to Arlington (Columbia Co.), and Middleton (Dane Co.). Road washouts, gravel shoulder washouts, and basement flooding were the main result from this flooding. A large area of southern Columbia County had considerable flood and hail damage - refer to details in the specific line entries for flash flooding and hail events for this date. The slow movement of the the thunderstorms amplified the damage.

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 Jun 24, 1:25 PM CST, 12 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 24, 1:25 PM CST, 12 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
225 PM CDT SAT JUN 24 2006

.DISCUSSION...FORECAST FOCUS ON SEVERE CHANCES THIS EVENING...THEN
PCPN AND TEMPS THROUGH MONDAY WITH UPPER LEVEL TROF.

DISCUSSION WILL BE SHORT AS T-STORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN SW CWA IN
WARM ADVECTION ZONE ON NOSE OF 1000-850 MB THETA E CONVERGENCE.
FCST SNDGS SHOW SOME INCREASE IN 0-3KM SHEAR THIS AFTERNOON WITH A
FAVORABLE CURVATURE TO THE HODOGRAPH...ESPECIALLY WITH RIGHT-MOVING
CELLS.

TSTMS EVOLVING INTO LINE SEGMENTS THAT WILL CROSS THE CWA LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. BETTER COVERAGE SHOWERS AND STORMS COME AFTER
03Z TNT AS ENHANCED LIFT FROM VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE MOVING THRU WRN MN
ATTM PUSHES INTO RGN.

MODELS IN BETTER AGREEMENT TODAY WITH DEEPENING THIS TROF OVER WRN
GRT LAKES THRU SUNDAY...KEEPING PDS OF SHOWERS AND TSTMS IN THE FCST
UNTIL SUNDAY NIGHT. SOME DIFFERENCES MON AND TUE...SO WILL KEEP DRY
FOR NOW...THO INDICATIONS ARE THAT CYCLONIC FLOW FROM SLOW-MOVING
TROF WILL LINGER OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY.

EASTERLY SFC FLOW WILL KEEP LAKE CNTYS COOLER THRU THE EARLY PART OF
THE WEEK.

&&

.MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

REM

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 24, 11:50 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1250 AM CDT SUN JUN 25 2006

WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-250900-
COLUMBIA-DANE-DODGE-FOND DU LAC-GREEN-GREEN LAKE-IOWA-JEFFERSON-
KENOSHA-LAFAYETTE-MARQUETTE-MILWAUKEE-OZAUKEE-RACINE-ROCK-SAUK-
SHEBOYGAN-WALWORTH-WASHINGTON-WAUKESHA-
1250 AM CDT SUN JUN 25 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL
WISCONSIN...SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE...BUT THEY WILL REMAIN BELOW
SEVERE LEVELS.  PATCHY FOG MAY DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT.  THE FOG MAY
BECOME LOCALLY DENSE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY...AND AGAIN ON
WEDNESDAY. THE THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW
SEVERE LEVELS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.

LMZ643>646-665-250900-
NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE TO WIND POINT-
PORT WASHINGTON TO NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE-
SHEBOYGAN WI TO PORT WASHINGTON-
WIND POINT TO WINTHROP HARBOR ILLINOIS-
1250 AM CDT SUN JUN 25 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF LAKE MICHIGAN.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE...HOWEVER THEY WILL REMAIN
BELOW SEVERE LEVELS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY AND AGAIN
WEDNESDAY.  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CONDITIONS MAY BE APPROACHED ON
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT.

MBK

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:28 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 4 flash flood, 2 lightning, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Columbia

When: June 25, 1:30 AM CST to 2:10 AM CST
Where: Columbia County, Dekorra
Measured: 1 in hail
Property damage: $500 million
Crop damage: $1.7 million
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 43.467, -89.467

A slow-moving thunderstorm moved from the Dekorra area southeast through the Poynette area to the North Leeds area, leaving in its wake a lot of crop damage due to hail. A roughly 40 to 45-minute hail shower (stones up to the size of quarters) fell in a band from about 3 miles south-southeast of Dekorra along Kent Rd. to the McKenzie Environmental Education Center just northeast of Poynette. Crop, vegetable, and fruit damage was noted, and in some cases, an entire year's crop was lost due to hail damage. Many residential homes and vehicles were damaged. Hail depth on some roads reached 8 inches and had to be plowed off the roads, especially along Kent Rd. and near the McKenzie Center. The crop damage estimate is based on a newspaper report which quoted a USDA report. The property damage is purely an estimate based on a variety of reports.

Flash Flood, Columbia

When: June 25, 1:30 PM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Columbia County, Wyocena
Property damage: $40,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 43.467, -89.334 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorms with torrential rainfall of 3 to 6 inches (radar estimated) within a couple hours caused low spots on several roads to be washed out near Poynette. In addition, there were other washouts of gravel shoulders on some roads. Several roads had water depths of 1 to 2 feet on low spots.

Hail, Columbia

When: June 25, 1:40 PM CST
Where: Columbia County, Poynette
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 43.400, -89.400

Flash Flood, Sauk

When: June 25, 2:00 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Sauk County, Hillpt
Property damage: $500,000
Crop damage: $1,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 43.427, -89.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Thunderstorms with torrential downpours produced rainfalls of 3 to 6 inches (radar estimated) in west-central Sauk County. Specifically, 4.67 inches of rain fell in Hill Point from 1315CST to 1430CST. Several shoulder gravel washouts occurred on a couple roads in the west-central part of the county as well as on some residential driveways. Several roads had water depths of 1 to 2 feet on low spots. The area that was affected the most was a 2 mile by 10 mile band in the Civil Towns of Ironton and Washington. In this area, four roads had a low spot washed away from the floods. One farm lost 4 acres of a hay/alfalfa crop.

Hail, Columbia

When: June 25, 2:10 PM CST
Where: Columbia County, 4 mi S of Wyocena
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.450, -89.300

Hail, Sauk

When: June 25, 2:30 PM CST
Where: Sauk County, Loganville
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 43.433, -90.033

Flash Flood, Dane

When: June 25, 3:00 PM CST to 4:30 PM CST
Where: Dane County, Middleton
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 43.067, -89.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains of 3 to 5 inches (radar estimated) from thunderstorms caused water to flood over many roads just north of Middleton. Some gravel shoulder washouts were noted, as well as some basement flooding.

Flash Flood, Dane

When: June 25, 3:00 PM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Dane County, 5 mi NE of Sun Prairie
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 43.067, -89.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains of 3 to 5 inches (radar estimated) in a short period of time resulted in flash flooding. Gravel shoulder washouts occurred on a couple roads, and there was some basement flooding.

Heavy Rain, Dane

When: June 25, 3:00 PM CST
Where: Dane County, Middleton
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 43.067, -89.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The heavy rains that fell in the Middleton area resulted in a partial collapse of a roof of a warehouse due to accumulation of rain water on the roof.

Lightning, Walworth

When: June 26, 1:15 AM CST
Where: Walworth County, 1 mi S of La Grange
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 42.669, -88.542 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning struck the roof a residence causing a 6-8 inch hole in the roof, and the collpase of the ceiling under the impact area.

Lightning, Walworth

When: June 26, 1:30 AM CST
Where: Walworth County, 4 mi SE of La Grange
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 42.669, -88.542 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning struck a tree and traveled through the ground to a residence near STH 12/67 and Lauderdale Drive, and broke two windows and cracked some drywall.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, June 2006

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: 5515674, 5515610, 5515612, 5515609, 5515611, 5515613, 5515614, 5515615, 5515675, 5515617, 5515616.