Justin Thompson-Gee

We had a few strong to severe thunderstorms early Tuesday morning especially near the IL border in Walworth and Kenosha Counties. Loud start to the morning in those areas with tons of lightning, some heavy rain, gusty wind and hail. As of 5 AM most of southeast Wisconsin is fairly dry but a few light showers have been moving through.

Wisconsin dodged a big bullet Tuesday with widespread severe weather including wind gusts over 100 mph and multiple tornadoes just to our south across parts of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. Some of the strongest winds were reported in Chicago's south suburbs and parts of NW Indiana where widespread wind damage was reported with measured wind gusts close to 100 mph.

Almost every day this week has had the chance for showers and storms. Wednesday stayed mostly dry besides a few sprinkles in southern counties. Thursday's rain chance looks a bit better with a good area of rain already forming in Minnesota and Iowa and moving east. The best chances for rain locally will be in our southern counties during the late morning and afternoon hours.

The forecast has been pretty steady so far this August. Rain chances have mainly stayed in the southern part of the state near the IL border, especially the last 10 days. And high temperatures have mostly stayed in the upper 70s and low 80s. Fifteen out of the first 16 days of the month saw highs in the 70s and 80s. We did have one cooler day at the beginning of the month in the 60s.

The next chance for rain is here. An isolated shower is possible Tuesday morning along a broken line of showers that moved across the state Monday night. Most of those showers are dissipating as they move into our local area but a few sprinkles or isolated showers cannot be ruled out through the late morning hours. Otherwise, most of us should stay dry until after 2 or 3 PM when the chance for showers and storms increases and stays with us through the evening.

Tuesday saw a round of severe storms move through most of southeast Wisconsin. Some of our northwest counties saw the storms first shortly after 4 PM then those storms moved their way southeast. They were strongest in the Milwaukee metro area where the quad county area between Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee Counties saw the most thunderstorm damage.

The National Weather Service has finished surveying damage from the severe storms that rolled across southeast Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon and evening. They have confirmed one tornado did occur. It was in southern Washington County near the Hubertus area. The tornado had max wind speeds of 80 mph making it an EF-0 tornado. The tornado was very short-lived - only on the ground for two minutes and traveled a half mile.

Did you find yourself going for the sweatshirt, flannel or light jacket Monday morning? I'm sure you weren't alone as temperatures dropped into the 40s to start the day in some communities. Even Milwaukee got down into the mid 50s. It was the coldest morning in almost two months since June 26th!

We have not had much heat this August. Overall, temperatures are running cooler than average. The warmest temperatures so far this month is 87 back on August 16th. High temperatures the rest of August look to stay in the upper 70s and low 80s. The warmest day currently in the forecast through the end of August is tomorrow, Wednesday, where 84 is the forecast high.

Some isolated showers will be possible on Wednesday. Most of the stronger storms that were in place in central and northwest Wisconsin Tuesday weakened before they reached our area. There was a brief overnight severe storm in Iowa County west of Madison which dissipated over Janesville. The best chance for any more isolated showers will be before 10 AM but an afternoon or evening shower or sprinkle is possible too.