Thunderstorms Barrel Through Southeastern Wisconsin

I’m sure you heard your windows rattling this morning, a line of showers and thunderstorms blasted through the viewing area just after midnight.  The National Weather Service issued Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for the Milwaukee, Waukesha, Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha counties until 2:30am.  The hardest hit areas were in southern Milwaukee County.  Locations such as Cudahy, St. Francis, and Oak Creek all had several trees down, and power outages.  The velocity data on our Doppler radar indicated wind gusts over 80 mph around those areas.  

Hail, lightning, and heavy rain also were reported with these storms.  The storms raced through Southeastern Wisconsin very quickly, and were out of eyesight by early morning.  Storms like this are not that rare, especially when the right dynamics involved during the spring season.  There were strong low level winds, plenty of moisture, and the positive motion along a front.  When this setup takes place, strong, straight-line winds become embedded in clusters of thunderstorms.  The best thing to do in these situations are: stay away from windows, stay up-to-date on all platforms (TV, social media, and web), and download the free “Ready Weather App”.

The rest of your day will feature a couple early lingering showers and cloudy skies as windy conditions develop. Don’t be shocked to see peeks of sun at times with a drying trend and the track of the low moving east. - Morning Meteorologist Chris Nelson

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