Severe Weather

Severe weather refers to any dangerous meteorological phenomena with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions.

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Wisconsin Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness- 

https://www.weather.gov/mkx/taw-severe_thunderstorms

Severe Thunderstorms

At any given moment, there are thousands of thunderstorms occurring worldwide.  Most of these storms are beneficial, bringing needed rainfall.  A small percentage of the storms become severe.  Although the area stretching from Texas to Minnesota has the greatest known occurrences of U.S. severe thunderstorms, no place in the U.S. is immune to the threat of severe weather. 

Although severe thunderstorms can be fairly small, averaging around 10 to 15 miles in diameter, and have an average lifetime of 20 to 30 minutes, they can cause a tremendous amount of damage.  Some supercell thunderstorms can have a lifespan of several hours. 

Severe thunderstorms are defined as having one or more of the following:

• Wind gusts of 58 mph or higher
• Hail of 1 inch or greater
• Tornado
• Flash Flood

Severe thunderstorms also typically contain dangerous cloud to ground lightning.

• WISCONSIN SEES AN AVERAGE OF 30 TO 40 DAYS A YEAR WITH THUNDERSTORMS. HERE/S THE BREAKDOWN ON SHORT-LIVED SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS IN WISCONSIN...FOR THE PERIOD OF 1982-2009
• ***54 PERCENT OF ALL SEVERE EVENTS IN THE STATE ARE STRAIGHT LINE WIND EVENTS /WIND SPEEDS 58 MPH OR HIGHER/
• ***34 PERCENT ARE HAIL EVENTS WITH HAIL-STONES THAT ARE AT LEAST 1 INCH IN DIAMETER
• ***6 PERCENT ARE TORNADO EVENTS
• ***6 PERCENT ARE FLASH FLOODS. 

HERE ARE SOME MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN THE STATE OF WISCONSIN... ...

• HAIL CAN OCCUR IN ANY COUNTY HOWEVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF WISCONSIN HAS A GREATER NUMBER OF RECORDED HAIL EVENTS. ...
• EACH SUMMER THERE ARE ABOUT 15 SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN WISCONSIN WHICH PRODUCE HAIL 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER OR LARGER. ...
• SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN OCCUR AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY AND AT ANY TIME OF THE YEAR. THE PEAK SEASON FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS BETWEEN APRIL AND AUGUST AND MOST LIKELY TO OCCUR IN THE LATE AFTERNOON OR EVENING HOURS. ...

 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AND WARNINGS...

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AND A WARNING.

WHEN A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ISSUED...IT MEANS THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE.

WHEN A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS ISSUED...IT MEANS THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN YOUR AREA.

ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW THE NAME OF THE COUNTY IN WHICH YOU RESIDE. WATCHES AND WARNINGS ARE DEFINED ON A COUNTY BASIS. IF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE A POSSIBILITY IN YOUR AREA...MONITOR A NOAA WEATHER RADIO ALL-HAZARDS...LOCAL TV OR RADIO STATIONS FOR THE LATEST SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES AND WARNINGS FOR YOUR AREA. IF A WARNING IS ISSUED YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOURSELF. MOVE TO A STURDY BUILDING AND DO NOT STAND NEAR WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED YOUR AREA.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. FOR ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION AND UP TO DATE FORECASTS AND WARNINGS PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: https://weather.gov/mkx

FLOODING

Flooding is a temporary overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry. Flooding may happen with only a few inches of water, or it may cover a house to the rooftop. There are many possible causes of floods including heavy rain or snow melt, coastal storms and storm surge, waterway overflow from being blocked with debris or ice, or overflow of levees, dams, or waste water systems, Flooding can occur slowly over many days or happen very quickly with little or no warning, called flash floods.

Flooding can happen in any U.S. state or territory. It is particularly important to be prepared for flooding if you live in a low-lying area near a body of water, such as near a river, stream, or culvert; along a coast; or downstream from a dam or levee.

Flooding can occur during every season, but some areas of the country are at greater risk at certain times of the year. Coastal areas are at greater risk for flooding during hurricane season (i.e., June to November), while the Midwest is more at risk in the spring and during heavy summer rains. Ice jams occur in the spring in the Northeast and Northwest. Even the deserts of the Southwest are at risk during the late summer monsoon season.

https://www.ready.gov/floods

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