The Weather Guys

Tyler Statz takes a break from cleaning out his flooded home in Black Earth. The village and nearby towns were swamped when nearly 15 inches of rain fell in the area. (Photo credit: Steve Apps, State Journal)

The nearly unprecedented flooding that has plagued the southern half of the state over most of the last two weeks began with the incredibly heavy rains that fell on Dane County and surrounding areas in the afternoon and evening of Aug. 20.

Western parts of Middleton recorded over 12 inches of rain, and a staggering total of 14.7 inches fell in Cross Plains in well less than 24 hours.

The Cross Plains total now represents the single greatest 24-hour rainfall event in the state’s history, eclipsing the 11.72 inches that fell near Mellen on June 24, 1946.

A curious aspect of the heavy rain that night, at least in Madison (where 3.92 inches fell during the event), was that it was relatively lightning free as such summer downpours go. That observational characteristic is an important clue about the mechanisms that forced this state-record rain event.

Like the substantial rain that preceded it on Aug. 17, this precipitation was tied to passage of a mid-latitude cyclone that ingested extremely vapor-rich air into its circulation.

A week later, the devastating precipitation amounts were shifted northwest toward the La Crosse, Sparta and Viroqua area where, again, widespread heavy rain (near 12 inches in some locations) resulted in record flooding of the Kickapoo River.

The storms responsible for that flooding were more like the heavily precipitating convective storms we are used to here in the summer.

A tornado that touched down Thursday in Deerfield, though relatively weak, tore a roof off International Machinery Exchange, 214 N. Main St. (Photo credit: John Hart, State Journal)

Tornadoes form in regions of the atmosphere that have abundant warm and moist air near the surface with drier air above, a change in wind speed and direction with height, and weather systems such as fronts that force air upward.

The United States provides these three ingredients in abundance, so it is not surprising that the majority of the world’s reported tornadoes occur in the U.S.

Within the United States, tornadoes can occur in nearly every state and in every month of the year. Wisconsin has experienced tornadoes in every month except February.

Tornado season is based on when the ingredients for severe weather come together in a particular place. Because a change in wind with height is closely related to the presence of a jet stream, tornado season moves north and south during the year with a jet stream.

Tornado season peaks in March and April in the Southeast but not until July in the upper Midwest and Northeast. The deep South has a secondary peak in tornado occurrence in November.

Tornadoes can also happen at any time of day or night. However, the most likely times for tornadoes are late afternoon or early evening. More than half of all U.S. tornadoes occur during the hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time.

In Wisconsin, June is typically the month when the most tornadoes occur, followed by July. Wisconsin averages 24 tornadoes per year.

So far this year, Wisconsin has experienced only eight tornadoes. The most recent was Thursday in Deerfield. The National Weather Service determined that tornado had 80-mph winds. The storms were relatively weak, in comparison to other tornadoes, but they still caused damage and posed a danger.