SierraVisions.com » Wisconsin

Before the Storm

Steven — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:04:28 +0000

Shot this iPhone image the day before our snow storm hit. We went from spring like weather to winter overnight.

Near Lake Michigan and the Pike River, Kenosha WI

Finally, Snow

Steven — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:03:31 +0000

It took awhile for it to happen, but we’re finally getting some snow here in Wisconsin.

2″ so far. The forecast is calling for up to 6″.

Videos of Severe Storm Damage in Kenosha

Steven — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:15:58 +0000

It was six days ago, on June 3oth, that a severe thunderstorm formed over Lake Michigan and moved south, 5-10 miles off shore of Kenosha. Though the storm didn’t come over land in our area, hurricane force winds, up to 75 mph, swept across the lake and slammed into the lake shore areas. The winds uprooted hundreds of trees, snapped power poles, caused much property damage and left thousands without power for up to three days. It also turned Kenosha’s beautiful lake shore parks into tangled messes of downed trees and branches.

During the storm I was able to grab a little video from our living room window, I then went out on Friday morning and shot some video of the damage. The first video contains those scenes. Yesterday I was able to get to the hardest hit area, South Port Park, and I shot some video of the damage there. That’s the second video.

Kenosha is still a mess and there’s a lot of clean up left. Thankfully all power was restored on Sunday.

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Thunderstorm over Lake Michigan

Steven — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:01:27 +0000

I shot this last evening while on my way to a pet sit. It’s a two image pano of a storm over Lake Michigan at sunset. The image was shot and processed on my iPhone. If it wasn’t for my iPhone I would have missed a beautiful photo because I didn’t have another camera with me. Just goes to show, the best camera is the one you have with you!

Click Image to Enlarge

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Severe Thunderstorm Watch

Steven — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:06:34 +0000

Severe Thunderstorm Watch #441 was just issued for all of SE Wisconsin, including Kenosha.

At 5:00pm CDT storms are beginning to fire here in SE WI. The action should pick up as the evening progresses and the cold front begins to move through. The main threat this evening will be large hail and damaging winds, but tornadoes can’t be ruled out.

My high temp at the house today was 94 with a heat index of 100. Yesterday’s high was 96. These are the two hottest days we’ve had in the 3 1/2 years that I’ve lived in Wisconsin.

Tomorrow the bottom drops out of the temps though. Thursday’s forecasted high in Kenosha, 58! We stay in the high 50′s to low 60′s for the next five days with rain chances 4 of the 5.

So much for summer.

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May Weather Summery: Kenosha WI

Steven — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:28:41 +0000

I guess it’s official, May was the payback month for the warm, sunny November we had last year. Most of May was more like fall than spring, with cool, cloudy and rainy weather. Here’s a rundown of the the month from my observations at home.

Average High Temperature: 59 – 3 degrees below average
Average Low Temperature: 45 – 3 degrees below average
Highest High Temp: 85 on the 31st
Lowest Low Temp: 34 on the 5th
Precipitation total: 4.36 inches – 1.68 inches above average
15 of the 31 days had measurable precipitation
No snow fell this month
1 Severe Thunderstorm Watch
1 Tornado Watch
1 Severe Thunderstorm Warning
5 days rated Slight Risk Severe Thunderstorms by the SPC
1 day rated Moderate Risk Severe Thunderstorms by the SPC
We only had 2 days that were cloud free all day and night.
21 days were mostly cloudy or cloudy.

Here’s the link to my weather log: Kenosha WI, 12 Month Weather Log

Now we enter June, our biggest severe weather month, we’ll see what it brings. The next 5 day are forecast to continue the temperature roller coaster ride that we’ve been on the last couple weeks: 73, 59, 87, 85 & 70
Only two of these days have rain forecasted though.

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The Day After

Steven — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:18:53 +0000

Severe weather didn’t quite materialize for us along Lake Michigan’s shore yesterday. The strongest storms, on the leading edge of the cold front, fell apart as they hit the cooler air along the lake. At the time the storms came in there was an 18 degree difference in temperature from the lake shore to 10 miles inland. That was enough to weaken the storms considerably.

We did get to see a nice shelf cloud as the leading edge of storms came in though. Here is a two image pano I shot from our balcony. Click the image to enlarge.

These storms were moving at 60-70 mph as they came through Kenosha County. I was expecting all hell to break loose after the shelf cloud passed, but it didn’t happen this time. I just missed an awesome lightning photo while shooting this pano. A large tangle of lightning appeared just above the trees and stayed there for about 5-10 seconds. More than enough time to take a picture, but I was moving to a new position and wasn’t ready for it.

We did end up with .55″ of rain last night and another .04″ this morning. Next system moves in on Tuesday night and Wednesday. It’s currently forecast to bring close to an inch of rain.

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Severe Thunderstorm Warning

Steven — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:36:58 +0000

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Kenosha County. The storm is about 30 min. out. Don’t think there’s to much of a risk for tornadoes here in Kenosha, but high winds and large hail is possible.

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Shelf Cloud over Kenosha

Steven — Mon, 23 May 2011 01:19:53 +0000

Here’s a photo of the shelf cloud from the squall line as it moved into our area this evening. This dude was moving at 60+ mph as it came through.

For how ominous this looks, the storm totally fell apart as it moved over the cooler air near the lake. All we’re getting is rain and a little lightning.

Tornado Watch

Steven — Sun, 22 May 2011 22:26:07 +0000

A tornado watch has been issued for all of SE Wisconsin.

Storms have begun to fire and the radar is getting busy. There have been numerous reports of large hail and one tornado report in Central WI. It’s only going to get busier from this point on.