Good morning to the roll.
Governor Tony Evers this week.
More than 20 counties are under flood warnings and it just keeps storming.
Heartless hit Milwaukee and southeast Wisconsin and farther north toward Green Bay and into
central parts of the state. Roads and highways have closed with sandbagging underway and more
stopping messes and areas hard hit last August. How unusual is this string of wet weather
and storms? We turn to Kurt Kohtenberg, a meteorologist in charge with the National Weather Service,
joining us from Green Bay and thanks a lot for being here.
Yeah, thank you for having us. So what's been happening over the past several days in your region?
Yeah, it's just been one round after the other. Pretty much everywhere across Wisconsin,
so not only the La Crosse area in southwestern Wisconsin. They issued over 55 severe weather
warnings this week. The Milwaukee area is issued over 79 severe weather warnings this week,
so it's just been statewide. And of course we have the the terrible flooding up in east
central and northeastern Wisconsin. Long story short, so far in the month of April, so this is through
the 16th of April. This doesn't even count the severe weather happening Friday.
The National Weather Service offices have issued 172 severe thunderstorm warnings,
tornado warnings, or flash flood warnings. And to put that number in perspective, we average about
22 statewide for the entire month of April. And that number that we've had so far halfway through April
is more severe weather tornado, a severe thunderstorm tornado warning and more flash flood warnings
that we've issued in the past eight years combined. So we're just way outside the box of anything that we
typically deal with here. Not only April Wisconsin, but almost just Wisconsin in general, even during the peak summer months.
Why is it happening?
Just just a uniquely active weather pattern. It's effectively just been one one very strong area of low pressure
after the other that's just gone across the country and has tapped into all this Gulf moisture and very
unfortunately, the atmosphere is just basically unleashed all this moisture over Wisconsin over the past week.
With the ground already saturated, what kind of flooding could result from Fridays and storms into this evening?
Right. So, you know, certainly in East Central Wisconsin, we're talking about the Wolf River in particular.
You know, they've had hundreds and hundreds of people evacuating across town, such as New London and Cheyactin.
So they don't need a single more drop or additional drop of rain.
So the Friday event is the one positive.
If there even is, there is not really positive, but the one good thing is that this could be a very fast moving system.
So once it's through here Friday evening, you know, it's probably going to be through Wisconsin eight, nine o'clock.
The worst of it.
You know, hopefully then it should be quiet for at least the next five days.
So I'll be a little different this evening. One very fast moving, whereas the past couple days has been a lot slower moving.
But after that, the kind of the light at the end of the tunnel is that we're not expecting rainfall here across the state really for the next five days.
So this goes through probably until about Thursday of next week.
So hopefully that will give us a time to dry off and really start the clean up and reparation process across Wisconsin.
Dry off and dry up.
Well, that is good news.
Kurt Cotenberg out of Green Bay. Thanks so much.
Thank you for having us.
Boy, those numbers you were sharing about the number of weather alerts and storm warnings is that that is stunning.
It's wild. So, so this past Tuesday, the 14th statewide, we issued 78 of those severe warnings, tornado warnings, five flood warnings.
That's the fifth most active day in state history period for us issuing warnings.
So that includes June, July, May, like the fifth most active day happened here in the middle of April.
And then, yeah, the flooding, especially the Wolf River. I mean, she acted in new London. Those are record highs.
So going back to 1922 was the previous record. So in any of our lifetimes, we have not seen this type of flooding across the central Wisconsin.
And, you know, I was working with someone or talking with what the emergency managers there.
And they said that the Wolf River is so high. There's lots of sturgeon in the Wolf River that there's actually sturgeon in people's front yards.
And so we're going to have to coordinate with the DNR once it's all done.
The water starts receding like there's going to be sturgeon that needs to be netted out of people's front yards like, you know, just unprecedented things in any of our lifetime. So, yeah, just.
Yeah, terrible, terrible flooding and terrible weather here across Wisconsin and just very, very much looking forward to this upcoming with it stopping and being dry finally.
And on the Wolf River.
Do you know what its current flood stages or where it's at?
Yeah, so it's a major flood stage at New London and Chiakton. And this is record.
It's over over 19 feet.
So both of those locations have set record heights. Again, this is going back to the 1900s on any of our lifetimes.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, go ahead.
I was going to say, you know, not to speak for for emergency management, the law enforcement response community.
But I will just quickly say that, you know, that in the state of Wisconsin, they can't really force evacuations per say for something like this.
And so, you know, what they're considering doing is, you know, the, the people who recommend they evacuate, you know, going to letters, how is it.
So their house is in if they, if they choose to stay it out.
Some sort of documentation so that they can notify next of kin.
You know, with the response level, should that be needed.
So, I mean, when you're talking about things like that, like it's just very, very sombering and.
You know, sad to hear that we're even that's even a sentence that is being said.
And is that is that what's happening? Are those kind of.
Signatories being needed. Yeah. Do you know how many people have been evacuated from various locales?
That number, I believe is literally going up Friday, Friday morning.
As of Thursday, it was close to 2000.
And I believe that it is exceeded 2000 as a Friday morning.
And again, we'll see what happens with the Friday once the Friday evening.
Severe weather and heavy rain has done what that number turns to on Saturday.
And is that in the new London reactant area.
Primarily.
I know there there's other locations across the state.
You know, I can have a walk area like the Brown deer.
You know, people are reporting a sewage trying to get into their basements in some locations.
You know, Jefferson County, we have people sandbagging along the rock river.
And I think to a note, you know, given given all this, this terribly hazardous weather and all the very unfortunate things happening, you know, so far as a Thursday.
I mean, any fatality is bad, but there's there's only been one fatality so far with all of the active weather across this week.
And that was a lightning strike in the Waukesha area on Wednesday.
Because I'm walking across the market.
Yeah, because for people like you monitoring this and putting out the warnings and seeing what's happening and seeing what's coming.
How frightening is that?
Yeah, I mean, this is to be on, you know, this side of it too, like we're humans and literally on Tuesday, my neighborhood.
We had a shelter in place for our neighborhood where I live, because we could not get into the neighborhood.
There's two ways in and out and both of those ways have floodwaters blocking it.
So like, you know, this, this hits, hits home pretty hard.
But then the damage surveys we do as well.
So after the tornado by Union Center on Tuesday, the National Weather Service and lacrosse went out Wednesday morning and damaged the damage survey.
And, you know, seeing the homes and the damage, you know, these are our fellow Wisconsin nights and, you know, just seeing, you know, some people like they've lost everything.
So it's it weighs on us a lot too.
It also helps motivate us to really, you know, this is why we do this is to try to help help keep these people safe and protected the best that we can.
And then just seeing the impacts on the community, you know, just reaffirms that what we're doing is important.
And we're operating 24, 7, 365. So, you know, whatever we can do to help people stay safe, whether wise is what we're doing around the clock.
Well, thank you. Thank you for that work because everyone hangs on it.
For sure.
All right, Kurt, thanks a lot. And may you get a little respite next week.
Thank you.
All right.
Take care.
Bye.