May 19, 2013: Straight-line wind in Dane County

A cluster of severe thunderstorms brought damaging winds across much of South Central Wisconsin during the afternoon of May 19th. The wind gusts, between 60 mph and 75 mph (52 knots to 65 knots), blew down numerous trees and power lines. The severe thunderstorms developed on the nose of a strengthening low-level jet ahead of the first of a series of short-wave troughs/impulses lifting through the western Great Lakes region on the eastern side of a deep upper-level trough over the Dakotas. The low-level winds brought in an unstable air mass, with surface-based CAPE of 1000 to 1300 J/kg, with 0-6km shear of 35 to 40 knots supporting sustained updrafts and rotating storms.