This is Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week in Wisconsin.  Luckily we haven’t had much in the way of severe thunderstorms yet, but that will likely change over the next month or so.  It’s always a good thing to review severe weather terms, safety tips, and refresh your severe weather preparedness plans.  Do you and your family members know what to do in a variety of situations whether you are at home, school, work, shopping, driving, or outside?  Please take time to look over this important information.  It could reduce your risk of injury or death from severe weather.

On Thursday, April 19, a tornado drill will be conducted.  At 1 pm, a test Tornado Watch will be issued for all of Wisconsin.  The test watch will be broadcast on NOAA Weather Radio as a Required Weekly Test–RWT.  At 1:45 pm, the NWS Green Bay office will issue a test Tornado Warning.  The test warning will be broadcast as a test on NOAA Weather Radio using the actual Tornado Warning code.  The drill will conclude at 2 pm.

Here’s the schedule for the tornado drill:

1:00 p.m.  -  A test Tornado Watch is issued for all of Wisconsin by the Storm Prediction Center

1:45 p.m.  -  NWS offices in Wisconsin issue test Tornado Warnings using actual Tornado Warning code (broadcast will state this is a test)

2 p.m.  – Drill ends with the issuances of test Severe Weather Statements

Should severe weather be present anywhere in Wisconsin on the day of the drill, the test watch and warnings will be postponed until Friday.  If severe weather is forecast for Friday, the drill will be canceled.  

Wisconsin Severe Weather Facts

Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes per year, with most tornadoes occurring in the 3 to 9 P.M. time frame.  The peak tornado season in Wisconsin is May through August, with June having the greatest number of tornadoes.  A record-setting 62 tornadoes occurred in 2005.  In 2011, Wisconsin had 38 tornadoes, 15 in northeast Wisconsin alone!

The “average” Wisconsin tornado has a 10 minute duration, a path length of about 6 miles, and a damage width of about 125 yards.

Another hazard of the warm-season is powerful, straight-line thunderstorm winds that can exceed 60 mph.  Every year Wisconsin will get a few storms that generate hurricane-force winds of at least 75 to 100 mph.  Severe Thunderstorm Warnings are issued for these wind events.

Large hail is also a hazard with thunderstorms.  Severe Thunderstorm Warnings are also issued for storms with hail of at least 1″ in diameter.

Other warm-season hazards localized flash floods or widespread river and lowland flooding, lightning, and excessive heat.

To learn much more about all types of severe weather that impacts our region please go to these great link from the National Weather Service. 

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=taw-part4-tornado_stats

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/?n=safety

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grb/outreach/TAW/TAW5.pdf

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grb/outreach/TAW/TAW2.pdf

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grb/outreach/TAW/TAW3.pdf

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grb/outreach/TAW/TAW1.pdf

Posted under Severe Weather, Storms, Tornadoes, Weather NEws, Weather Safety

The tragic flash flood in Arkansas should serve as a reminder to everyone of how dangerous flooding can be. We often focus on severe thunderstorms and tornadoes because they happen more often, but flash flooding is just as deadly, if not more so. Historically in the U.S., flooding has claimed more lives than tornadoes. The death toll from the flash flooding in Arkansas is now at 18. Read more about the tradegy here. An NWS analysis of the event can be found here. As is the case in almost every flash flooding situation, the water rose faster than anyone thought it could, catching campers at the campground by surprise. Downstream the little Missouri river rose about 20 feet in just 3 hours. This broke the old flood record by 10 feet!

In the modern day, most flash flooding deaths occur in automobiles (remember “turn around, don’t drown”). In this case it was one of the other situations that is known to be dangerous during a flash flood – camping. Many campgrounds in the country are situated next to rivers and streams. Many camp flooding deaths occur at night when everyone is sleeping. There is also a problem that many campers do not have a mechanism to receive flash flood warnings, or the campgrounds might be so remote that they do not receive regular media broadcasts including weather radio. If you do like to go camping, a very useful tool is a weather radio. All warnings for the area you are in will be broadcast in a timely manner over NOAA weather radio. If you are without any method of receiving flash flood warnings, keep an eye and ear on the weather. If you are in a flood prone spot and very heavy rain has been falling for what would seem an unusually long time (typically over a half hour) then get up and move to higher ground quickly. Stay safe.

Have a nice night. Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Flooding, Natural Disasters, Severe Weather, Weather Safety