July 27, 2006: Straight-line wind in Dane, Jefferson and Waukesha Counties

A similar scenario to that of July 9, 2006 occurred again on the afternoon of July 27th. Very slow moving scattered thunderstorms developed across portions of south-central and southeast Wisconsin. A lake breeze fired additional storms across Waukesha County. With propagation speeds often less than 15 mph, torrential rains resulted underneath these storms. Nearly stationary storms over the Madison and Waukesha areas produced 4 to 5 inches of rain within about 90 minutes. Flash flooding resulted in these locales with many buildings and vehicles sustaining varying degrees of damage. The UW-Madison campus was especially hit hard. See the specific write-ups as flash flood entries above. Other smaller cities in Dane and Waukesha counties also experienced some minor urban flooding, but these reports did not warrant a separate line-item entry above. Other storms across the area pulsed to severe limits to produce damaging winds to about 61 knots (70 mph) and one funnel cloud report at 1228CST at a location 2 miles northwest of Stoughton (Dane Co.). The major electrical companies estimated that about 10,000 customers were without electrical power at one time or another on July 27th, due to tree debris or lightning striking power-lines.