Two probable deaths from hypothermia occurred in Milwaukee during a brief period of arctic air.
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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.
Two probable deaths from hypothermia occurred in Milwaukee during a brief period of arctic air.
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 Dec 12, 9:22 PM CST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 922 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 .KEY MESSAGES... - Arctic air will remain over the region into Friday night. - The weekend low pressure area continues to trend later, with chances for light freezing rain/mixed precip mainly Saturday morning over south central WI. Precipitation then turns to rain Saturday afternoon. - Warmer temperatures are likely to stick around early next week. With the warmer temperatures are additional chances for rain. && .UPDATE... Issued 922 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 Mostly clear skies are expected overnight along with light winds and chilly lows around 0 most places. No significant updates to the forecast area anticipated for the overnight hours. DDV && .SHORT TERM... Issued 256 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 Tonight through Saturday night: Quiet, dry weather should carry on tonight through tomorrow as an arctic high pressure center works its way into Wisconsin. With the center of the air mass overhead, winds will largely die down overnight, mitigating wind chill concerns. Air temperatures will still be frigid however, with lows around zero. Tomorrow, the high pressure will shift east and winds will come around to southeasterly. The flow off of the warmer lake waters will allow our temperatures to rebound, with highs warming to the upper teens to low 20s. The arrival of the anticipated low pressure system for Saturday continues to slow with each successive run of our operational forecast model suite. With lingering dry arctic air in place, saturation is taking longer to occur in the models. PoPs of 30 to 55% west of Madison hold off until after 12z Saturday according to the NBM. Operational runs vary in precip onset time, adding some additional uncertainty as to what precipitation type we'll see Saturday morning. Later precip arrival would mean sfc temperatures would warm to at or above freezing amid strong sfc warm advection over the region ahead of the low pressure system, causing more of a rain- snow mix to rain transition over southern WI. An early arrival of precip would see a warm nose occur aloft over lingering arctic air at the surface, leading to light freezing rain before surface temperatures warm above freezing. At this time, operational models are about 50/50 regarding either scenario. For now, we've let the NBM ride, which favors the freezing rain scenario, leading to 0.01 to 0.05 inches of ice accumulation west and southwest of Madison. More tweaks will be need to be made to this forecast as CAMs come into range and lend further clarity as to how the temperatures profiles will evolve Saturday. In either case, precip turns to rain everywhere Saturday afternoon, with rain wrapping up early Sunday morning. CMiller && .LONG TERM... Issued 247 AM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 Sunday through Thursday: With the weekend low pressure slowly moving east out of the state late Saturday there could be a few lingering rain showers on the back side Sunday morning. This will be particularly true for eastern Wisconsin. With temperatures above freezing both Saturday night and Sunday morning, rain will be the likely precipitation type. The entire air column looks warm with temperatures above freezing from the surface until 850 mb. Once these lingering showers move out, southern Wisconsin should remain dry until Monday. The next upper level trough will be right on the heels of the first bringing additional chances for rainfall Monday into Tuesday. The surface low is much further north in comparison to this weekend's system, which will leave much of central and southern Wisconsin in the warm sector. The expected track for this system is to ride along the US/Canada board until it hits Minnesota then tracking northeast toward James Bay. This change of direction would like be caused by this system becoming more vertically stacked between the surface and 500mb which will cause the system to begin occluding. This system could wiggle a bit yet on track depending on when it begins to occlude at the surface. This could cause shifts in many features such as the axis of highest precipitation. As things stand now, southern Wisconsin will be on the southern edge of this low with southerly winds and WAA. Day time high temperatures Monday will be in the 40s and rain will be the likely precipitation type. Much of the heavier rain is expected to be along the cold front that will move through later in the day into Tuesday. By Tuesday morning conditions should become dry again. By mid week guidance does try to hint at another system, but there is considerable uncertainty in track and timing. Deterministic models along vary between no system at all, a system in the Great Lakes Region or one for the Central Plains. Due to this, stuck to the average among guidance. The signal for a return to more normal temperatures with highs in the 30s and overnight lows in the 20s is expected to return behind the cold front late Monday. Patterson && .AVIATION... Issued 922 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 VFR conditions are expected tonight into Friday, with mostly clear skies overnight and increasing high clouds on Friday. Not out of the question to see ceilings flirt with MVFR near the lake by later tomorrow as winds become onshore. Light westerly winds this evening will become light and variable overnight into early Friday. Winds will eventually become east to southeast by tomorrow afternoon, while remaining under 10 knots. DDV && .MARINE... Issued 245 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 High pressure will sink south out of northern Minnesota into the Upper Mississippi Valley tonight and increase strength. The presence of the high pressure center will cause northwest wind to steadily decrease this afternoon and throughout the overnight hours. Winds will then become light and variable Friday morning as the high pressure expands over the Great Lake Region. Friday night into Saturday morning, the high will retreat, and low pressure will move toward the Middle Mississippi Valley. A tighter pressure gradient will move over the lake, causing sub- gale southeasterly gusts by Saturday afternoon. Locally, these southeast winds will likely drive onshore waves to small craft advisory criteria Saturday morning. CMiller && .MKX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WI...None. LM...None. && Visit us at weather.gov/milwaukee Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube at: www.facebook.com/NWSMilwaukee www.twitter.com/NWSMilwaukee www.youtube.com/NWSMilwaukee
Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI 910 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-140315- Marquette-Green Lake-Fond du Lac-Sheboygan-Sauk-Columbia-Dodge- Washington-Ozaukee-Iowa-Dane-Jefferson-Waukesha-Milwaukee- Lafayette-Green-Rock-Walworth-Racine-Kenosha- 910 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of east central Wisconsin, south central Wisconsin and southeast Wisconsin. .DAY ONE...Tonight While wind chills won't be a major factor tonight with light and variable winds, arctic air will remain over the region tonight with lows near zero. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Thursday Arctic air will remain over the region into Friday night. Mixed precipitation including freezing rain is expected Saturday morning over southwest to south central Wisconsin, followed mostly by rain for Saturday afternoon and night over all of southern Wisconsin. Some light ice accumulation (less than a tenth of an inch) is possible mainly west and southwest of Madison. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. LMZ643>646-140315- 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- 910 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the nearshore waters from Sheboygan Wisconsin to Winthrop Harbor Illinois. .DAY ONE...Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Thursday Breezy southeasterly winds and high waves are then expected to develop early Saturday morning through Saturday night, which will likely necessitate a Small Craft Advisory. LMZ080-261-362-364-366-563-565-567-669-671-673-675-777-779-868- 870-872-874-876-878-140315- Lake Michigan Michigan City IN to St. Joseph MI 5 NM offshore to mid-line of lake.- Lake Michigan from Seul Choix Point to Rock Island Passage 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan South of a line from Seul Choix Point to the Mackinac Bridge and North of a line from Charlevoix MI to South Fox Island 5NM offshore- Lake Michigan from Charlevoix to Point Betsie MI 5NM Offshore to mid lake- Lake Michigan from Point Betsie to Manistee MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Rock Island Passage to Sturgeon Bay WI 5NM offshore to mid lake- Lake Michigan from Sturgeon Bay to Two Rivers WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Two Rivers to Sheboygan WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Sheboygan to Port Washington WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Port Washington to North Point Light WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from North Point Light to Wind Point WI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Wind Point WI to Winthrop Harbor IL 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Winthrop Harbor to Wilmette Harbor IL 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Wilmette Harbor to Michigan City in 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Pentwater to Manistee MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Whitehall to Pentwater MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Grand Haven to Whitehall MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from Holland to Grand Haven MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- Lake Michigan from South Haven to Holland MI 5NM offshore to Mid lake- Lake Michigan from St Joseph to South Haven MI 5NM offshore to Mid Lake- 910 PM CST Thu Dec 12 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the open waters of Lake Michigan. .DAY ONE...Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Thursday No hazardous weather is expected at this time. www.weather.gov/mkx
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The Milwaukee County Examiner's office reported two probable hypothermia deaths. Both persons were homeless and one was found outside, while the other was found in a vacant, boarded up home. An arctic airmass had settled over the area.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold/Wind Chill, Milwaukee | 2024-12-13 | 64 | Female | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| Cold/Wind Chill, Milwaukee | 2024-12-13 | 56 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, December 2024
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: 1221746.