Severe Weather Threat Looms Over Western Wisconsin This Evening

Hold onto your hats, Western Wisconsin – we’ve got ourselves a serious weather situation brewing tonight. The kind of situation that makes you want to bring your trash cans inside early and maybe even double-check the batteries in your weather radio, you know? WEAU News has officially declared this a FIRST ALERT WEATHER DAY, and for good reason. We’re talking about the possibility of some seriously strong storms rolling through later today.

Mother Nature’s Bringing the Heat (and Wind, and Maybe Some Hail)

So, what’s the big deal? Well, the main concern with this system is the potential for wicked strong winds. We’re talking gusts of up to and maybe even exceeding seventy-five miles per hour, folks. That’s strong enough to turn your backyard trampoline into a projectile and make even the sturdiest trees tremble. Power lines? Yeah, those don’t stand a chance. Bottom line: if this thing hits as predicted, we’re looking at potential damage to trees, power lines, vehicles – you name it.

Oh, and did I mention hail? Yep, those of you who are fans of free car dents, this one might be right up your alley. Large hail is definitely on the menu for tonight, along with the potential for some heavy rain. So, basically, Mother Nature is throwing everything she’s got at us this evening.

Where Will These Storms Hit and When? Your Guess is as Good as Ours (Almost)

Okay, so here’s the thing: predicting the weather is a lot like trying to predict what my toddler is going to do next – it’s a crapshoot, at best. Right now, the weather models are having a bit of a disagreement about exactly when and where these storms are going to form, and what direction they’re going to head once they do. It’s like they’re playing musical chairs up in the atmosphere.

That being said, the current thinking is that the storms will likely develop over in Minnesota sometime around sunset – if, and that’s a big if, the “atmospheric cap” breaks. Think of it like this: the atmosphere is trying to keep a lid on all this potential storminess. If that lid blows off, then it’s game on. Assuming the storms do form, the most likely scenario is that they’ll track southeastward, either in clusters or maybe even in a big, bad bowing line segment. And just to keep things interesting, this whole shebang could last into the early overnight hours. So much for a good night’s sleep, right?