Strong northwest wind gusts of 39 to 43 knots (45 to 50 mph) affected south-central and southeast Wisconsin on May 11th, in the wake of an abnormally strong low pressure that tracked from the Texas Panhandle into Lower Michigan. This resulted in scattered light tree damage and power outages.
Every event with a place to put it; 17 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Strong northwest wind gusts of 39 to 43 knots (45 to 50 mph) affected south-central and southeast Wisconsin on May 11th, in the wake of an abnormally strong low pressure that tracked from the Texas Panhandle into Lower Michigan. This resulted in scattered light tree damage and power outages. In addition, there were two indirectly-related vehicle accident deaths. In one case, a woman was killed as her son lost control of the vehicle on a wet road during a rain shower, which led to a head-on collision in the town of Grafton (Ozaukee Co.) around 0825CST (poor visibility and inattentiveness may have been factors, based on the police report). Elsewhere, a man died in Fitchburg (Dane Co.) around 1500CST when he lost control of his vehicle trying to swerve from a large tree limb on the road, and hit another tree. Some notable maximum wind gusts include 43 knots (50 mph) at Sheboygan North High School (Sheboygan Co. - Milwaukee TV-6 school net site), 42 knots at Madison Memorial High School (Dane Co. - Madison TV-15 school net site), and 41 knots (47 mph) at the ASOS units at both Milwaukee Mitchell Field (Milwaukee Co.) and the Sheboygan County Airport northwest of Sheboygan Falls. Last, but not least, temperatures fell to unseasonably cold levels in the 30s during the afternoon. A mix of rain and snow or all light snow resulted toward the tail end of a convective precipitation shield during the later afternoon and overnight hours. Snow accumulations up to 1 inch occurred on top of 1716-foot high Blue Mound in eastern Iowa County, as well as in the higher, grassy areas in parts of Sauk, Dane, Jefferson, Walworth, and Waukesha 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 May 11, 9:22 AM CST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 1022 AM CDT THU MAY 11 2006 DISCUSSION...12Z UPPER AIR ANALYSIS AND CURRENT RUC FORECAST CONTINUE TO MAKE GOOD CASE FOR KEEPING WIND ADVISORY THROUGH 10 PM TONIGHT. SURFACE WINDS A LITTLE SLOW TO INCREASE IN WESTERN CWA AT THE MOMENT...BUT INTENSIFYING MICHIGAN LOW AND PROGGED INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL WIND FIELD AS PER THE RUC ENOUGH REASON TO KEEP FORECAST GOING. LAPS METEOGRAMS HOWEVER ARE SUGGESTING THAT SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS TO DECREASE BELOW CRITERIA AROUND 00Z ACROSS CWA. WILL WATCH TO SEE IF THIS TREND OCCURS WHICH MAY LEAD TO EARLY DROPPING OF ADVISORY BY ISSUANCE OF AFTERNOON FORECAST PACKAGE. TZ PREVIOUS AFD... .DISCUSSION...FORECAST FOCUS ON WIND AND PCPN TODAY AND TNT...THEN COOL AND SHOWERY. BOMBOGENESIS UNDERWAY ACROSS SRN LOWER MI WITH A 988 MB SFC LOW ANALYZED AT 08Z WITH 7 MB/3 HR PRES FALLS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL LOWER MI. LARGE PCPN SHIELD OVER LM AND LOWER MI SLOWLY PUSHING WWD INTO ERN WI. NAM AND GFS PRES GRADIENT AND WIND FIELDS STILL SUPPORT WIND ADVISORY. 1 KFT WINDS IN THE 40 KT RANGE EXPECTED BY 15-18Z WITH 6-7C LAPSE RATES UP TO 900 MB. SFC LOW WILL QUICKLY OCCLUDE TODAY AND IS PROGGED JUST NORTH OF KMKG AS A 987 MB LOW. DO NOT EXPECT AS MUCH RAIN AS EARLIER THOUGHT. CROSS SECTIONS SHOW A WEAKENING OF THE FRONTOGENETIC CIRCULATION AS THE LOW QUICKLY OCCLUDES AND DEFORMATION ZONE IS LOST. Q VECTOR CONVERGENCE AND OMEGA FIELDS HAVE RESPONDED WITH WEAKER VALUES THAN YESTERDAYS 00Z RUN. WILL STILL SEE WIDESPREAD RAIN BUT EXPECT AROUND 1.5 INCHES IN ERN WI THROUGH TNT TO LESS THAN AN INCH WEST OF MADISON. PCPN TYPE IS SOMEWHAT OF A CONCERN THIS AFT AND TNT AS GFS SOUNDINGS SUPPORT SNOW BY 20-21Z OVER SOUTH CENTRAL WI. NAM SOUNDINGS REMAIN WARM ENOUGH FOR RAIN. IT APPEARS THE GFS IS ENTRAINING DRIER AIR FROM THE NORTHWEST AND RESULTING IN EVAPORATIVE COOLING. GFS SFC TEMPS ALSO FALL TO MID 30S BY LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING WHILE 850 MB TEMPS FALL TO -5 C. BELIEVE GFS IS A BIT OVERDONE WITH COOLING BUT WILL MENTION SNOW MIXING WITH RAIN THIS AFT AND TNT OVER SOUTH CENTRAL WI. OCCLUDED LOW WILL THEN LINGER NEAR LM THROUGH AT LEAST SATURDAY CONTINUING THE PERIODS OF LIGHT RAIN AND COOL TEMPERATURES. && .MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR WIZ046-WIZ047-WIZ056-WIZ057-WIZ062-WIZ063-WIZ067-WIZ068- WIZ069. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR WIZ051-WIZ052- WIZ058-WIZ059-WIZ060-WIZ064-WIZ065-WIZ066-WIZ070-WIZ071-WIZ072. && 20/20
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 1025 AM CDT THU MAY 11 2006 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-120900- MARQUETTE-GREEN LAKE-FOND DU LAC-SHEBOYGAN-SAUK-COLUMBIA-DODGE- WASHINGTON-OZAUKEE-IOWA-DANE-JEFFERSON-WAUKESHA-MILWAUKEE- LAFAYETTE-GREEN-ROCK-WALWORTH-RACINE-KENOSHA- 1025 AM CDT THU MAY 11 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN...SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT INTO THE EVENING. EXPECT WINDY CONDITIONS...WITH GUSTS TO 50 MPH. WIDESPREAD MODERATE RAIN IS EXPECTED...WITH TOTALS EXCEEDING ONE INCH...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. RIVER LEVELS WILL BE ON THE RISE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY RISING RIVERS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FRIDAY. SOME MAY RISE TO NEAR OR ABOVE BANK FULL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT RAINFALL AND WIND REPORTS WILL BE APPRECIATED. LMZ643>646-665-120900- 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- 1025 AM CDT THU MAY 11 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF LAKE MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT GALE WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT INTO THE EVENING. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES WILL THEN BE NEEDED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED FRIDAY. TZ
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
17 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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, May 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: 5509301, 5509302, 5509303, 5509304, 5509305, 5509306, 5509307, 5509308, 5509309, 5509310, 5509311, 5509312, 5509313, 5509314, 5509315, 5509316, 5509317.