The evening of Saturday, August 18th, lightning stuck a condominium on 1504 Hunter Hill Rd in Hudson, Wisconsin. Fire was confined to the attic on two of the four condo units in the building, and damage was estimated around $300,000.
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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 MPX wrote it up.
The evening of Saturday, August 18th, lightning stuck a condominium on 1504 Hunter Hill Rd in Hudson, Wisconsin. Fire was confined to the attic on two of the four condo units in the building, and damage was estimated around $300,000. No one was injured in the fire.
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 Twin Cities, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 18, 5:54 PM CST, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 654 PM CDT SAT AUG 18 2012 .UPDATE... UPDATED FOR THE 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW. .DISCUSSION... DRY AND PLEASANT WEATHER WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN WILL TRANSITION FROM A NORTH NORTHWEST FLOW TO ONE THAT IS MORE ZONAL. THIS PATTERN CHANGE WILL BRING WARMER AIR ACROSS THE REGION...AS WELL AS REPEATED CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...EARLY AFTERNOON VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY OVERLAID WITH SURFACE OBS SHOWED AN AREA OF CLOUDS OFF TO THE SOUTH OVER IOWA ASSOCIATED WITH A DECAYING MCS. MEANWHILE A BAND OF ALTOCUMULUS WAS JUST NORTH OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER...WHILE ANOTHER AREA OF CLOUDS WAS ALONG THE MN/CANADA BORDER. AT THE SURFACE A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY WAS ORIENTED EAST/WEST OVER NORTHERN WISCONSIN EXTENDING ACROSS THE NORTHERN THIRD OF MINNESOTA. SHORTRANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THE POTENTIAL FOR A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THIS BOUNDARY AS IS SAGS SOUTHWARD. THE SPC MESOANALYSIS PAGE FORECASTS 500 TO 1000 J/KG OF MIXED LAYER CAPE LATER TODAY...BUT WIND SHEAR WILL BE ALMOST NEGLIGIBLE SO AFTERNOON CONVECTION WILL BE SCARCE AND PULSE-LIKE IN NATURE. TONIGHT SHOWERS WILL END ACROSS THE REGION WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR REDEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE FAR SOUTH TOMORROW. HOWEVER...NORTHWEST FLOW WILL SET THE STAGE FOR A DRY STRETCH THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS THE UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVES ARE PROGGED TO REMAIN SOUTHWEST OF THE REGION. WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...A SHORTWAVE CURRENTLY OVER THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS WILL DIVE SOUTHEAST AND INTERACT WITH THE CUTOFF CYCLONE CURRENTLY OFF THE WASHINGTON COAST. THIS PV ANOMALY WILL MOVE ACROSS THE ROCKIES ON WEDNESDAY AND HEAD TOWARDS THE UPPER MIDWEST. THIS WILL INDUCE LOW LEVEL SOUTHWEST WINDS WITH WARMER...MOIST AIR RETURNING ACROSS THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY. GFS FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW TALL THIN CAPE PROFILES WITH FAVORABLE DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...BUT THE SPEED SHEAR IS LACKING WITH ROUGHLY LESS THAN 30KTS THROUGHOUT THE H900-H300 LAYER. THEREFORE MAY MENTION THE POSSIBILITY FOR A FEW ISOLATED SEVERE REPORTS IN THE HWO...BUT NOT ANTICIPATING MUCH MORE THAN THAT AT THIS TIME. ONCE THIS SYSTEM DEPARTS IT LOOKS LIKE THE UPCOMING WEEKEND COULD TURN OUT DRY BEFORE THE NEXT WAVE MOVE IN FROM THE WEST. && .AVIATION.../00Z TAF ISSUANCE/ MORE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND WEAK THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONFINED TO NORTHEAST MN AND NORTHWEST WI THIS EVENING. ACTIVITY IS BEING FUELED BY AFTERNOON HEATING...SO EXPECT A DIMINISHING TREND OVER THE NEXT 2-3 HOURS. SHOULD LINGER A BIT LONGER IN WEST CENTRAL WI...SO KEPT VCSH GOING AT KRNH AND KEAU LONGER TONIGHT. THE SHOWERS ARE TIED TO A WEAK FRONT DROPPING SOUTH TONIGHT. THIS FRONT WILL TURN WIND TO THE NORTH TOMORROW. THE CHANCE FOR RAIN TOMORROW SHOULD BE CONFINED TO FAR SOUTHERN MN AND AND SOUTHWEST WI...SOUTH OF LOCAL TAF SITES. KMSP...LIGHT SHOWERS POSSIBLE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE HOURS...BUT QUICKLY DIMINISHING AS WE APPROACH SUNSET. WE ARE ALREADY SEEING A DIMINISHING TREND WITH THE SHOWERS IN THE LOCAL AREA AND MUCH OF THE ACTIVITY WELL NORTH OF THE AIRPORT WILL WEAKEN AND SLIDE EAST WITH TIME. HIGH CONFIDENCE IN VFR. /OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ SUN...VFR. NORTH 5 TO 10 MPH. MON...VFR. NORTHWEST 5 TO 10 MPH. TUE...VFR. SOUTHWEST 5 TO 10 MPH. && .MPX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. && JRB/CLF
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 741 PM CDT SAT AUG 18 2012 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 200045- DOUGLAS-TODD-MORRISON-MILLE LACS-KANABEC-STEVENS-POPE-STEARNS- BENTON-SHERBURNE-ISANTI-CHISAGO-LAC QUI PARLE-SWIFT-CHIPPEWA- KANDIYOHI-MEEKER-WRIGHT-HENNEPIN-ANOKA-RAMSEY-WASHINGTON- YELLOW MEDICINE-RENVILLE-MCLEOD-SIBLEY-CARVER-SCOTT-DAKOTA- REDWOOD-BROWN-NICOLLET-LE SUEUR-RICE-GOODHUE-WATONWAN-BLUE EARTH- WASECA-STEELE-MARTIN-FARIBAULT-FREEBORN-POLK-BARRON-RUSK- ST. CROIX-PIERCE-DUNN-PEPIN-EAU CLAIRE- 741 PM CDT SAT AUG 18 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA... AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK EARLY TONIGHT. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. A FEW STORMS MAY BE STRONG...BUT AT THIS TIME THE SEVERE POTENTIAL REMAINS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:47 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning stuck a condominium in Hudson, Wisconsin and created an attic fire. No one was injured, but damages were estimated up to $300,000.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, August 2012
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: 392626.