A weak cold front moved southeast through southern Wisconsin. Scattered storms developed in a band along the front, and one storm pulsed to severe limits.
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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.
A weak cold front moved southeast through southern Wisconsin. Scattered storms developed in a band along the front, and one storm pulsed to severe limits. Surface temperatures were in the lower 80s and dewpoints were in the mid 50s.
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 Aug 9, 3:16 AM CST, 10 hours 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
416 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008
.SHORT TERM...SHOWERS AND ISOLD TSTORMS OVER SW WI...SRN MN...AND
NE IA ASSOCIATED WITH WARM ADVECTION AND LOW TO MID LEVEL
FRONTOGENESIS. THIS AREA OF LIFT AND PCPN WILL SHIFT SEWD THIS
MORNING AND EVENTUALLY WEAKEN OVER IL.
NEXT CONCERN IS LARGE POLAR TROUGH DROPPING S-SEWD FROM ONTARIO
AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT. CENTER OF UPPER LOW TO REACH LAKE HURON
BY 00Z AND THEN SLOWLY DRIFT SEWD THROUGH THE ERN GREAT LAKES INTO
SUN. COLD FRONT CURRENTLY OVER LAKE SUPERIOR WILL MOVE SWD AND
MOST LIKELY ACCELERATE DOWN LAKE MI THIS AFT. FCST SOUNDINGS
REVEAL MLCAPES AROUND 500 J/KG WITH LITTLE CAPPING AND SCT TSTORMS
EXPECTED WITH FROPA. A FEW STORMS COULD LINGER INTO THE EVENING
IN FAR SRN WI BUT OTHERWISE COLD ADVECTION EXPECTED THROUGH THE
OVERNIGHT WITH PWS DROPPING TO ONE HALF INCH.
.LONG TERM...
WITH POLAR TROUGH TO MOVE SLOWLY EWD AND RIDGE AXIS REMAINING OVER
THE HIGH PLAINS...SFC HIGH PRESSURE TO REMAIN OVER THE WRN GREAT
LAKES THROUGH AT LEAST MON NT. TEMPS TO REMAIN SLIGHTLY BELOW
NORMAL DURING THIS TIME WITH DRY CONDITIONS. UPPER RIDGE OVER THE
PLAINS THEN BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN AS WEAK SHORTWAVES UNDERCUT THE
RIDGE AND MOVE TOWARD THE WRN GREAT LAKES. SHORTWAVES AND LIFT ARE
VERY WEAK AND SFC MOISTURE IS LIMITED SO ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE
WORDING FOR TUE AND WED.
&&
.AVIATION...
VFR EXPECTED MOST OF THE PERIOD. WARM ADVECTION SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THAT MAY AFFECT KMSN THIS MORNING SHOULD HAVE BASES
ABOVE 4000-5000 FEET AGL. MEANWHILE...SHARP FRONT COMING DOWN EARLY
THIS AFTERNOON LIKELY TO TRIGGER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN EAST
CENTRAL WISCONSIN THEN MOVES INTO SOUTHEAST DURING LATE AFTERNOON.
AGAIN...VFR SHOULD BE THE RULE BUT BRIEF MVFR VISIBILITIES DURING
SHOWERS NOT OUT OF QUESTION. LIGHT WINDS MUCH OF THE DAY WILL TURN
TO GUSTY NORTH AS FRONT MOVES THROUGH...ESPECIALLY AT KMKE AND KENW
DUE TO LESS FRICTION NEAR THE LAKE.
FRONT SHOULD GO THROUGH MKE AROUND 22Z...KENW AROUND 23Z...AND MSN
AT 01Z.
&&
.MARINE...
POTENT UPPER TROUGH DIGGING THROUGH GREAT LAKES SHOULD HELP DRIVE
COLD FRONT DOWN LAKE MICHIGAN THIS AFTERNOON. FAIRLY SHARP
WINDSHIFT COMING DOWN THROUGH SHEBOYGAN AROUND 19Z...MILWAUKEE
HARBOR AROUND 22Z...AND KENOSHA BY 23Z. WINDS MAY GUST AROUND 25
KNOTS FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT. THE FAVORABLE
NORTH TO NORTH-NORTHEAST FETCH THAT WILL LAST INTO SUNDAY SHOULD
BUILD THE WAVES TO 4 TO 6 FEET...REQUIRING A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY.
GLERL WAVE MODEL KEEPS WAVES ABOVE 4 FEET SUNDAY EVENING EVEN AFTER
WINDS SUBSIDE. MODEL OFTEN TENDS TO BRING WAVES DOWN TOO
QUICKLY...SO WILL RUN FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH MIDNIGHT SUNDAY
NIGHT.
&&
.MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WI...NONE.
LM...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 7 PM CDT SUNDAY
FOR LMZ643>646.
&&
SHORT/LONG TERM...20
AVIATION/MARINE...02HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 1100 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-101100- MARQUETTE-GREEN LAKE-FOND DU LAC-SHEBOYGAN-SAUK-COLUMBIA-DODGE- WASHINGTON-OZAUKEE-IOWA-DANE-JEFFERSON-WAUKESHA-MILWAUKEE- LAFAYETTE-GREEN-ROCK-WALWORTH-RACINE-KENOSHA- 1100 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN...SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND THIS EVENING...WITH THE BEST CHANCE THIS AFTERNOON. SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AND AGAIN FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS UNLIKELY. LMZ643>646-101100- SHEBOYGAN TO PORT WASHINGTON WI- PORT WASHINGTON TO NORTH POINT LIGHT WI- NORTH POINT LIGHT TO WIND POINT WI- WIND POINT WI TO WINTHROP HARBOR IL- 1100 AM CDT SAT AUG 9 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF LAKE MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. WIND GUSTS TO 35 KNOTS AND SMALL HAIL ARE POSSIBLE. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT TONIGHT FOR NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS TO 20 KNOTS AND WAVES BUILDING TO 3 TO 6 FEET. THERE WILL BE AN INCREASED RISK OF RIP CURRENTS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT SUNDAY AND SUNDAY EVENING FOR 4 TO 7 FOOT WAVES. THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AND AGAIN FRIDAY. COLLAR WWW.WEATHER.GOV/MKX
The Green Bay radar (KGRB), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:55 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An isolated severe storm moved south-southeast through the Princeton area and generated wind gusts that uprooted some trees and knocked many tree branches. Hail up to 1/2 inch in diameter was also reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, August 2008
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: 120363.