A storm chaser observed a funnel cloud for several minutes near the town of Martell, or west of Spring Valley in west central Wisconsin. No damage was reported but the funnel was only a few hundred feet above the ground.
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The episode as NWS MPX wrote it up.
A storm chaser observed a funnel cloud for several minutes near the town of Martell, or west of Spring Valley in west central Wisconsin. No damage was reported but the funnel was only a few hundred feet above the ground.
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 Jun 4, 12:02 PM CST, 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen MN 102 PM CDT SAT JUN 4 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 347 AM CDT Sat Jun 4 2016 A surface front was near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border early this morning with scattered showers and thunderstorms along and ahead of this front. The upper low was centered in northern Minnesota and based on regional water vapor imagery, has remained nearly stationary overnight. Isolated showers have managed to reform and slowly drift to the south across central Minnesota prior to 4 am in association with the upper low. This will likely be the focus for additional shower development through sunrise in central/east- central Minnesota. Today's forecast is based on the slow progression of the upper low and surface features that will drift to the southeast this afternoon across northern Wisconsin. Steeper lapse rates will occur in western Wisconsin, with more stable conditions in Minnesota, especially in western Minnesota. Deeper moisture and associated steeper lapse rates in western Wisconsin will lead to a better potential of widespread shower activity later today. More isolated showers will occur in Minnesota. Due to cold air advection and persistent cloud cover today, temperatures will have a hard time reaching 70 degrees. However, if more sunshine does manage to develop in the afternoon, a few 70s will be possible. Not much change to the forecast overnight as clouds slowly decrease as the storm system departs to the east. A few showers will remain in the forecast across western Wisconsin early this evening as weak lift and greater moisture depth holds on. .LONG TERM...(Sunday through Friday) Issued at 347 AM CDT Sat Jun 4 2016 The long term forecast features cooler temperatures and fleeting precipitation chances through the beginning of the upcoming week as a trough dominates the eastern third of the CONUS, and then temperatures moderate above normal for the last half of the week as western ridging builds into the area. Northwest flow will prevail Sunday and Monday as we remain under the influence of the aforementioned trough. Weak shortwave energy and rather steep lapse rates will facilitate spotty shower and thunderstorm activity on Sunday, and especially on Monday as a decent lobe of positive vorticity advection pivots into the area in the base of the Ontario/Great Lakes trough. Temperatures will be much cooler on Monday given the cold air advection scenario and extensive cloud cover expected. Highs will likely range from the mid 60s to lower 70s. Temperatures remain cool for Tuesday, but we dry out with the trough having shifted farther east. Wednesday through Friday brings rising heights as ridging works into the central part of the country. High temperatures moderate to the 75 to 85 degree range for Wednesday and Thursday, with 80 to 90 degrees anticipated for Friday. While mid level ridging will be in place for the last part of the week, low level moisture return/advection begins to take shape for Thursday and Friday, with a slightly unstable airmass potentially becoming conducive to a few showers/thunderstorms. Have included 20-30 percent precipitation chances for Wednesday night through Thursday night. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Sunday afternoon) Issued at 102 PM CDT Sat Jun 4 2016 Daytime heating has allowed eastern edge of clouds engulfing the area to come in mainly VFR from the Twin Cities on east, so have trended more optimistic with cigs through the evening at MSP/RNH/EAU. Said daytime heating has also allowed around 1000 j/kg of CAPE to develop downstream of an upper wave moving out of central MN which has allowed for the rapid development of SHRA and a few TSRA. The SHRA/TSRA activity will be greatest where cigs are expected to remain VFR, as this is where we have been able to build some instability. This evening, skies will quickly clear from west to east with the main question being how far south and west will IFR cigs be in WI tonight. Was on the fence with removing IFR cigs from the EAU TAF with the HRRR showing IFR CIGS remaining to the east and the LAMP starting to shrink how long it has them, but bufkit soundings support the threat for IFR cigs there, so left them in for now. KMSP...Will see scattered SHRA/TSRA through much of the afternoon, though greatest coverage is expected over the first couple of hours before the instability starts to move away. Will likely have CIGS bounce between 025 and 035 during the shower threat, but we are not anticipating anything below 018 at this time. Sunday, NAM forecast sounding suggest we see a BKN cu field up between 5k/6k ft, but cu rule is positive, so just went with a SCT for the clouds tomorrow. /OUTLOOK FOR KMSP/ MON...Mainly VFR. Chc SHRA/TSRA. Winds NW 10-15 kts. TUE...Mainly VFR. Winds NW 5 kts. Wed...VFR. Winds SW 5 kts. && .MPX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... WI...None. MN...None. && SHORT TERM...JLT LONG TERM...LS AVIATION...MPG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 415 AM CDT SAT JUN 4 2016 MNZ041>045-047>070-073>078-082>085-091>093-WIZ014>016-023>028- 050915- 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- 415 AM CDT SAT JUN 4 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MINNESOTA...EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA... SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST WISCONSIN AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY. THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS LOW AT THIS TIME...ALTHOUGH STRONGER STORMS COULD PRODUCE SMALL HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN ON SUNDAY...AND ACROSS NEARLY THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA ON MONDAY. THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS LOW AT THIS TIME...ALTHOUGH STRONGER STORMS COULD PRODUCE SMALL HAIL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:07 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm chaser recorded a funnel cloud for several minutes east of Martell. It was evident that the funnel cloud was only a few hundred feet above the ground. No damage was observed or reported, nor was there any indication of a touchdown on video.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, June 2016
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: 627683.