It was an interesting weather day in the area yesterday. The rain moved in earlier than expecting. My morning forecast indicated some showers and thunderstorms in the northwestern part of the area, but not central Wisconsin until the evening hours. The rain moved in by early afternoon, about 8 hours ahead of schedule. I was very happy to see rain coming down on my garden and I have talked to many people who were thankful for the rain to settle the dust and water their plants/crops, however I was not too happy about the poor forecast. Here at StormTrack9 we strive to deliver the most accurate forecast and the mother nature through a curve ball yesterday. The humidity was low but that did not stop the storms and rain from moving in. They had enough momentum and moisture to make it into central Wisconsin ahead of schedule. One of the highest rainfall reports I heard from yesterday was 1.36 inches reported from Donna in Marshfield. The airport in Marshfield had 0.82 inches. The airport in Wausau checked in with 0.66 inches. Stevens Point only had 0.10 inches. We should be thankful that it was not too heavy, as was the case in southeastern Minnesota where 5 to 8 inches of rain fell just south of the Twin Cities. That much rain doesn’t help too much and causes flooding trouble.

Another interesting thing was the high wind that developed late last night. It was a wake low pressure situation similar to the high wind that hit Weston and Wausau last year. This one was not as strong but it was strong enough to blow a few small trees and branches down causing power outages in Marathon, Clark, and Lincoln counties. The wind gusted as high as 49 mph in Wausau and 45 mph in Marshfield and Laona. A wake low pressure system is typically not associated with severe thunderstorms as they are occurring, but as they are dissipating. Continuous light rain below a large area of waning thunderstorms can cause high pressure to form. Outside of this rainfall area and high pressure a small low pressure sometimes forms. The wind then starts to flow from high pressure to low pressure and can get quite strong. You can read more about this phenomenon here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_low

Have a good weekend! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Storms