The first round of scattered storms, to affect south-central and southeast Wisconsin on March 11th, occurred during the early afternoon hours. Minor instability and high wind shear caused one storm to briefly attain severe levels (large hail) as it moved northeast at 43 kts (50 mph) or more through Walworth County.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS MKX wrote it up.
The first round of scattered storms, to affect south-central and southeast Wisconsin on March 11th, occurred during the early afternoon hours. Minor instability and high wind shear caused one storm to briefly attain severe levels (large hail) as it moved northeast at 43 kts (50 mph) or more through Walworth County. The second round of severe weather on March 11th was associated with a cold front that pushed through during the evening hours. Scattered thunderstorms redeveloped during the evening hours and pulsed to severe levels to produce several large hail reports, mainly across Rock, Dane, and Fond du Lac counties.
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 Mar 11, 3:04 AM CST, 9 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 304 AM CST SAT MAR 11 2006 .DISCUSSION...FORECAST FOCUS IS ON POSSIBLE CONVECTION TODAY AND SCATTERED CONVECTION TONIGHT. ALSO ON NEXT SYSTEM FOR SUNDAY NIGHT. MODELS ARE IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH DYNAMICS TODAY AND THIS EVENING. LITTLE CAPE INDICATED...BUT SOME SURFACE BASED NEG BUOY ENERGY WITH INVERSION TO AROUND 3K FEET. THERE SHOULD BE SOME MOISTURE CONVERGENCE TODAY AND THIS EVENING AND WEAK Q CONVERGENCE. LI REMAINS RELATIVELY STABLE AT AROUND ZERO. THE COLUMN SHOULD REMAIN FAIRLY DRY TODAY...BUT WILL BECOME SATURATED THIS EVENING. WILL LOWER POPS TODAY DUE TO LACK OF MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS. WILL MENTION LIKELY POPS THIS EVENING HOWEVER AS MODELS INDICATE A PERIOD OF STRONG ISENT LIFT WITH A THETA-E RIDGE. H700 OMEGA SHOULD MAXIMIZE AROUND 03Z. ALSO...MODELS INDICATE A FAIRLY STRONG SHORT WAVE WHICH WILL ADD DYNAMICS TO THE SYSTEM. MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS ARE LARGELY GONE BY AROUND 06Z. NEXT SYSTEM COMES THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. WILL FAVOR GFS TRACK ACROSS SOUTHERN WISCONSIN RATHER THAN NAM MUCH FURTHER SOUTH. UKMET AND ECMWF ARE CLOSE TO GFS TRACK. GFS APPEARS VERY DYNAMIC WITH 50KT LLJ OVERRUNNING H850 BARO ZONE. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME LF QUAD ACTION FROM H300 110KT JET. THERE SHOULD ALSO BE STRONG QPV AND Q CONVERGENCE. GFS INDICATES A PERIOD OF VERY STRONG ISENT LIFT BETWEEN H700 AND H850. ALL INDICATIONS ARE FOR SOME MODERATE RAINS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT. && .MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 437 AM CST SAT MAR 11 2006 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-121045- MARQUETTE-GREEN LAKE-FOND DU LAC-SHEBOYGAN-SAUK-COLUMBIA-DODGE- WASHINGTON-OZAUKEE-IOWA-DANE-JEFFERSON-WAUKESHA-MILWAUKEE- LAFAYETTE-GREEN-ROCK-WALWORTH-RACINE-KENOSHA- 437 AM CST SAT MAR 11 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN...SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT. A WARM FRONT WILL APPROACH SOUTHERN WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON...FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT TONIGHT. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND IS THE MAIN THREAT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY LOW PRESSURE AND A WARM FRONT WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. LMZ643>646-665-121045- SHEBOYGAN TO PORT WASHINGTON- PORT WASHINGTON TO NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE- NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE TO WIND POINT- WIND POINT TO WINTHROP HARBOR ILLINOIS- WISCONSIN ADJACENT OPEN WATERS OF LAKE MICHIGAN TO MID LAKE- 437 AM CST SAT MAR 11 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF LAKE MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING FOR SOUTHEAST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 KNOTS AND WAVES 3 TO 5 FEET. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT. A WARM FRONT WILL APPROACH SOUTHERN WISCONSIN THIS AFTERNOON...FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT TONIGHT. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND IS THE MAIN THREAT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY LOW PRESSURE AND A WARM FRONT WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND HIGH WAVES.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1228 PM CST SAT MAR 11 2006
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1222 PM HAIL REESEVILLE 43.31N 88.85W
03/11/2006 E0.25 INCH DODGE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
&&
REMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1234 PM CST SAT MAR 11 2006
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1229 PM HAIL 2 E BEAVER DAM 43.46N 88.80W
03/11/2006 E0.25 INCH DODGE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
NEAR INTERSECTION OF HWY 151 AND HWY 33
&&
REMThe Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:00 UTC.
6 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Two vehicle accidents occurred during hail storm due to hail accumulations creating slippery road surfaces.
Several vehicles were dented by the hail.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, March 2006
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: 5494626, 5494627, 5494629, 5494628, 5494630, 5494631.