June 4, 2005: Hail across four counties

Three different rounds of severe weather occurred between the afternoon of June 4th and the evening of June 5th. The second round of severe weather occurred during the late evening on June 4th through the early morning hours on June 5th. Clusters of severe thunderstorms, producing mainly large hail and damaging winds, crossed most of South-Central and Southeast Wisconsin. Golf-ball sized hail (1.75 inches) was measured at a location 3 miles east of Delavan at 2210CST and 1 mile west of Kenosha at 0315CST. Damaging winds caused tree and power line damage across Lafayette, Sauk, Iowa, Green, and Fond du Lac counties. A pontoon boat was overturned in Lafayette County which caused $5,000 in damage. Synoptically, an area of low pressure tracked across eastern South Dakota on June 4th and into northern Minnesota by late evening on June 5th. A warm front surged north across South-Central and Southeast Wisconsin during the evening on June 4th, causing thunderstorms to develop. The warm front stalled for a bit during the early morning hours on June 5th, allowing another round to develop and head east across the area. Finally, the warm front pushed into northern Wisconsin, allowing warm and humid air to flood into the region, fueling the final round along the cold front by late afternoon or early evening on June 5th.