Hot Temperature reports

Photo snapped during the Hot & Humid weather Saturday.



The past week, We have been in a Hot and Humid weather pattern which started as a Warm Strong front which past though on Saturday, The warm front raised the temperatures 20 from Saturdays high of just 64.F to Sundays high of 84.F At my station, This warm front set up a pattern for a Hot and Humid Week, Some places topped 90.F Which was the hottest we have been since June. And everyone else got very close to 90. Temperature Report Below.

Highest temperatures reported this week.

In My weather Station Records, This heat waved brought the second warmest day of 2009 so far. My station hit 89.F We were just shy of reaching 90.F So this leaves the total days in 2009 at or above 90.F at 1 day.

Although the chance is less then it was today, We have another chance to reach 90s tomorrow, If needed I will update the chart above.

Flip/Flop Weather. Extream Drought while some areas expereince Flooding.

Map made by me to illustrate area conditions.

Well you don't hear of such a contrast of conditions in such a local area but, Parts of the area last night were dealing with Flooding conditions, While other parts are continuing to suffer with Extreme Drought.

Flooding in parts of Southern Dunn County last night

Yesterday Evening, A complex of Thunderstorms formed right along the MN/WI boarder, then storms moved east and also kept forming and training over the same areas. This resulted in some areas getting near 5 to 6 inches of Rain in a short period of time, This caused the NWS to issued a Flash Flood Warning for Southern Dunn County last night. Radar estimates that southern Dunn county could have received as much as 5- 7 inches pf rain in parts of the county, but Especially the Downsville an Eau Galle areas

Extreme Drought

A old Pond bed near my house Completely dried up and filled with grass.

I don't really like to talk about Drought conditions much, But the Drought conditions are continuing to worsen across the Central parts of the area, The drought is extreme enough that a State of Emergency has been issued for parts of Wisconsin by the Governor of the state. The long term effects, is what effects are most extreme Area lakes, ponds and streams are Very low Some ponds near my house are not even there anymore. The Pond bed in the photo above is where a pond used to be, This pond never used to dry up completely over summer but in the past 2 years, It has never really came back. and now Grass is taking over. You can also tell area lakes are my local area, as well as the rest of the Extreme drought area are low. Short terms effects are not too bad at this point Corn is holding on fairly well, But It is Dry. Flower gardens are starting to show stress of the dry conditions, unless they have been watered.

Hopefully we get some Rain next week.

Slight risk Thursday

Image from SPC

The SPC has issued a slight risk of Severe Weather for parts of our 6 county area today, Scatter storms may form across the area this afternoon. A few may be Strong to possible Severe. this afternoon, That main threats will be Hail and wind and maybe Heavy rain.

Keep an eye on the weather this afternoon especially if you live in St Croix or Dunne counties.

Interesting Story, Souvenir from Burkhardt area Tornado

White Pine stick pulled Debris of the Burkhardt tornado.

Here is an interesting story. While Dirk and I were looking at the damage from the Burkhardt area tornado, I found a stick that I decided to take home for memory. As soon as we believed that it very well could have been a tornado which struck that area, I wanted a souvenir. After it was confirmed it was an actual tornado, I looked at the stick with different feelings, I thought about what this stick went though and had respect for what mother nature can really do in just seconds of time.

A Closer Look

Photo showing how the ends appears to have been sand blasted which dulled and smoothed it down.

Since I know quite a bit about plants and trees, I already knew that this stick is from a White Pine Tree. This stick is from the area where the actual tornado went though. and as soon as I found out it was a confirmed tornado which caused the damage, I started looking closer at it for signs.

I know that this definitely was a still living branch at the time it was broken off, The stick still smells and is sticky from pine sap, and you can tell it is freshly broken. The branch looked just as you see it here when I found it. It's broken in too places and the bark is stripped off all of the stick expect one small piece remaining on one side which I believe was the most protected from the most violent winds, on the opposite side of the branch, I can see indents in the stick where it looks like something like dirt and rocks impacted the one side, This is the side I believe got the brunt of the wind. Another thing me and my dad noticed is the ends of the branches have been dulled down, (photo above ) We believe that this stick was sand blasted which is why the ends have been dulled

So this is my best speculation on what happened to this tree branch it may have not been what happened, but this is what I believe what happened, But one thing is for sure, This branch went though a lot. thankfully no injuries were reported in this tornado.

Forecast, finally A bit of Summer. Turning Hot this week.

Forecast for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Well, finally, It will really begin to feel like the summer weather we all remember, starting this week. A high pressure is expected to move in starting Tuesday This will bring with it Hot weather and Sunshine into the area We have the chance to reach the low 90s in some spots. It will also bring us Dry weather, Tuesday will be the start of our very warm tend. I expect highs to hit the mid 80s, Wednesday Thursday will be our warmest days, Upper 80s are likely, With the chance of reaching the low 90s. More humid conditions will start to move in by Wednesday and Thursday. people should take it easy while outside over the next couple of days. Detailed forecast below.

Tuesday, Very Warm, Sunny Highs in the mid 80s Tuesday Night. Clear lows in the 60s.

Wednesday Hot, Highs in the mid to upper 80s. Highs near 90 possible. Wednesday Night Clear lows in the 60s.

Thursday, Hot, Sunny and Turning a bit more humid, Highs in the upper 80s lows 90s possible. Thursday Night, Mild, lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Looking ahead, Hot summer-like weather will continue though Saturday, Highs in the mid to upper 80s will continue though the weekend. Our first chance for rain will come in Late Saturday. This day will have to be watched for severe weather chances.

Storm Report- Parts of St Croix County Severe Damage- Tornado Confirmed

Trees completely snapped off and flattened Near Burkhardt in St Croix County. Once Again, a Big Thanks to Dirk for taking me along to see the storm damage.

Parts of St Croix County spent Saturday cleaning up after a Severe Storm which produced a tornado in the Burkhardt-Hammond area Yesterday Evening. First I will talk about how it formed. This storm started forming just west of Minneapolis, Where this storm reported a tornado in the western Suburbs. The storm continued east, and Effected all of St Croix County, and Southern Polk County, The storm produced a tornado in St Croix County and caused severe damage in areas north of Hudson, and the Burkhardt and Boardman areas. The Damage in the Burkhardt-Boardman area was confirmed to have been caused by an high end of a EF 1 Tornado with winds of 100mph.

Another quick message. Early Saturday Morning There was a Severe storm which caused wind damage to parts of Polk County near Osceola, before quickly fading out east of Clear Lake and Clayton. Trees were reported down across a highway in East Farmington Township.

Burkhardt Area EF-1 Tornado Damage

Parts of a Cottonwood tree snapped off 2 miles north of Burkhardt. you can tell this tree was hit by strong winds, This tree would have been on the edge of where the tornado went.

This morning I got a message from Dirk, He asked me if I wanted to go with him to Look at the damage in St Croix County, and I jumped at the opportunity. The damage we saw was mainly isolated to areas north of the Burkhardt area, It was so isolated that we drove down one block with no damage at all then suddenly we ran into, severe tree damage, The damage was 2 miles north of Burkhardt in St Joseph Township, The damage was caused by an EF1 Tornado. The good news is the Tornado did missed the community of Burkhardt. But once you got north of the community, you can see Severe tree and crop damage, Corn was completely flat, and Many trees snapped, and ripped apart, We also ran into some damaged homes. One home had singles missing and the garage doors were completely blown out with some Siding missing, Installation and plastic were blown across the yard into the field behind the home. There were also trees and tree branches thrown across yards

Corn completely flattened near Burkhardt. This photo was snapped right where the tornado went though.

Noticed how it's bent in two different directions, I'm sure it happened in a quick time period, but, This must mean that the wind first blew in one direction then stitched directions and blew very hard, This damage was confirmed to be caused by a Tornado

The corn was bent in different directions, and there was some odd things we saw that made us believe it was a possible tornado. which has now been confirmed that it was. I noticed that there were tree branches of a certain kind blown across the opposite side of the road, where there wasn't no trees nearby. The branches must have been blown against the wind in the opposite direction of the storm for that too happen. I even found a small cotton wood tree branch in the middle of an open field. and Dirk and I noticed the Tree damage pointing in different directions, Some trees fell east to west, some more northeast, and some pointed southeast Which signified to us that it was a Tornado

Clayton/Polk County isolated Outflow wind damage

Isolated Tree snapped by strong outflow winds in the storm near my house in Clayton,WI Story Below.

The weaker northern edge of the Severe Storm effect my local area, and Southern Polk County This storm produce strong outflow push of winds across southern Polk County, Which was strong enough to produce isolated spotty tree damage across this area, as well as my local area. Here at my house, I remember strong winds gusts from the south-southeast, The storm started out with no wind then we got short strong gusts, Especially as the back edge of the storm. There was also a lot of cloud to cloud lightning which was very Bright and frequent The lightning never slowed, and Thunder continued for over and hour long.

Read Here About the isolated tree down tree down near my house.

My house we also experienced the gusty outflow wind gusts. I did noticed scattered small branches around our yard from the storm, but I mainly thought hardly anything of it, but when I found a 8 inch diameter tree down not too far from my yard, days later, literally, just north and west of my house. I could not believe it, because The storm didn't seem strong enough to take trees down. My friend also reported/found isolated trees down north of Clayton. The only thing I can think of is my house was protected from the strongest winds by a thick woods south-southeast of my house, Which was the direction of the strongest winds. My wind gauge reported a gust of just 29MPH from this storm. But it must have been much stronger in isolated areas, The wind did sound pretty strong out there, I would really like to know how strong they were where that the tree was downed, Which is in a viewable distance from our yard. This is not the only tree I found down in the area, I also saw a large tree arm down from a tree down by Clear Lake. The tree I found was healthy so, My best guess is that there were isolated areas where winds gusted to at least 45- to 50MPH.

NWS Storm Damage reports from all of Saturday including the morning storms.

St Croix County: Penny Sized Hail 5 Miles North of New Richmond

St Croix County: Nickel Sized Hail Cylon area "hailed for about 5 minutes"

Polk County: 4 Miles E of East Farminton

St Croix County: Confirmed Tornado- Burkhardt area "numerous power lines and tree toppled, Garage ripped apart"

St Croix County Confirmed Tornado- 2 Miles NW of Hammond, "garage doors blown in, corn blown down"

Personal Report. Polk County: half mile SSE Clayton,WI 8 inch diameter tree downed, Also isolated spotty tree damage around Clayton.

For more photos and story, please Visit Dirks Forecasting Center

Moderate risk for Saturday Updated

Image from SPC

The Storm Prediction center Has upgraded, To a Moderate Risk for severe thunderstorms for parts the area Saturday afternoon. and evening. Morning Thunderstorms along a warm front have passed and skies have cleared allowing for heat and humidity to build, Thunderstorms could from this afternoon and evening and become severe. The main threats will be, Large Hail, Tornado's, and very heavy rain.

Keep an eye on the weather Saturday Evening, Especially if you live south of a line from Rice Lake to Balsam Lake, This is one of the higher risks for severe weather be have been in all summer. if storms develop they have a chance of becoming severe.