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Wet and Cool in the East this Memorial Day Weekend; Well Above Normal Temperatures in the Northern Plains

A wet Memorial Day weekend is in store for the East, with widespread rainfall of 1 to more than 2 inches expected from the Gulf Coast to southern New England. Well above normal temperatures are forecast to build across the northern Plains. Another round of heavy to excessive rainfall is expected to impact the western Gulf Coast this weekend with Flood Watches in effect. Read More >

August 2, 2020: Southeast Wisconsin Flash Flooding & Heavy Rain Event

Just before 8 PM CDT on August 2nd, thunderstorms developed along a convergence zone near the lake and given the lack of shear and high precipitable water values around 1.0-1.5 inches, storms stalled over southern Milwaukee County for a few hours. This resulted in a prolonged period of very heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding that swamped vehicles and inundated roadways across southern Milwaukee County.

Portions of the area saw around 3.0 inches of rainfall with pockets of higher amounts approaching 5.0-6.0 inches. However, due to precipitation being 0.5-1.0 inch below average for the week prior, it helped mitigate the flooding impacts from being worse. Nonetheless, two flash flood warnings were issued for portions of southern Milwaukee and northern Racine counties. 

Eventually, around 10:30 PM CDT the stall showers finally began to move south into Racine and Kenosha counties where they were able to see some of the action. These areas to the south saw upwards of 1.0-3.0 inches.

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Radar reflectivity loop of the storms that produced flash flooding/heavy rains in southeast WI on August 2, 2020 
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