July's Wind Damage Spike

Yesterday was a rough day with 14 hail reports and close to 30 damaging wind reports across the entire state of Wisconsin.  July is no stranger to wind damage, in fact, it has the highest frequency for wind damage reports!  Take a look at the graphic above.

Most of the wind damage occurs from nocturnal overnight complexes of storms that develop across Minnesota and track southeast.  A typical July features a stout ridge of high pressure across the central plains.  Heat and instability pool on the northern periphery of the ridge, and fuel big complexes of showers and storms across the Midwest.  These overnight complexes are great for rainfall; however, they can produce damaging winds as they accelerate. 

These complexes can evolve into derechos that travel over several states producing 100 mph winds or more!

It's interesting to note that June is the peak for tornadoes across Wisconsin.  Severe weather in general really starts to dwindle as we go into late August and into September.

More information about the latest weather.