Power Outage in Janesville, WI

Freezing rain with ice accumulation of 0.30-0.50 inches. Tree branches and power lines down. Power outages for thousands of customers. Snow accumulation of an inch or less.

Several tree branches, some large, and power lines down.

Power poles knocked down onto portions of highway 14 near Janesville.

Westerly wind gusts up to 45 mph. Scattered tree limbs down and some power outages.

The Turtle Creek at Beloit reached minor flood stage, cresting at 9.72 feet the morning of September 14th. Floodwaters surround a power substation on Colley Road. Colley Road is closed between Sager Lane and Brewster Ave. Floodwaters are also in the backyards of some homes on Arrowhead Drive, East Ridge Road, Mocassin Drive, Boulder Lane, Rockfence Lane and Stonehedge Lane. Parts of Bootmaker Drive and Moccasin Trail are flooded.

The Turtle Creek at Beloit reached moderate flood stage and crested at 11.70 feet. Floodwaters are in the back yards of some homes on Shopiere Road about 3 miles northeast of downtown Beloit, and on Arrowhead Drive and Luety Parkway. Colley Road is closed between Sager Lane and Sherwood Drive. Floodwaters surround a power substation on Colley Road in Beloit. Floodwaters are in the backyards of some homes on East Ridge Road, Moccasin Trail, and in the Turtle Creek subdivision. Parts of Bootmaker Drive and Moccasin Trail are flooded and closed. Parts of Athletic Avenue and Hancock Streets are closed. About 7 miles northeast of Beloit in the Town of Turtle, Sweet-Allyn Park on Highway J is flooded and closed. In the Town of Tiffany about 8 miles northeast of Beloit, floodwaters are in the back yards of some homes on East Creek Road.

The Turtle Creek at Beloit reached moderate flood stage and crested at 11.70 feet. Floodwaters are in the back yards of some homes on Shopiere Road about 3 miles northeast of downtown Beloit, and on Arrowhead Drive and Luety Parkway. Colley Road is closed between Sager Lane and Sherwood Drive. Floodwaters surround a power substation on Colley Road in Beloit. Floodwaters are in the backyards of some homes on East Ridge Road, Moccasin Trail, and in the Turtle Creek subdivision. Parts of Bootmaker Drive and Moccasin Trail are flooded and closed. Parts of Athletic Avenue and Hancock Streets are closed. About 7 miles northeast of Beloit in the Town of Turtle, Sweet-Allyn Park on Highway J is flooded and closed. In the Town of Tiffany about 8 miles northeast of Beloit, floodwaters are in the back yards of some homes on East Creek Road.

Over 200 calls pertaining to tree damage over the eastern two-thirds of the county. Some power lines down. These locations included Beloit, Janesville, Milton and other communities near these cities and east and north to the Walworth and Jefferson County borders.

Over 200 calls pertaining to tree damage over the eastern two-thirds of the county. Some power lines down. These locations included Beloit, Janesville, Milton and other communities near these cities and east and north to the Walworth and Jefferson County borders.

Approximately 31 trees or tree branches were knocked down by the high winds. Four landed on houses and two on cars. Three power poles and fifteen power lines were downed.

Scattered downed trees and limbs across the county with some falling onto power lines.|WE Energies reported 2,500 customers without power.

A swath of wind damage with numerous branches and trees down including one large uprooted tree. Trees and branches down on cars and one house. Power poles and powerlines down. Street signs blown down.

Scattered reports of trees and power lines down in much of western and central Rock |County, including the communities of Orfordville, Evansville, Beloit, Janesville, Afton and Milton.

Law enforcement officials reported a few trees and power lines downed by thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 65 mph (56 knots) in Newark.

Strong gradient winds downed tree branches and power lines, causing scattered power outages across Rock County. The AWOS at Janesville Airport recorded a 43 mph (37 knot) wind gust.

Law enforcement officials in Rock County reported trees and power lines down in a 23-mile wide swath from west northwest of Orfordville to northeast of Clinton due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts estimated at 65 knots (75 mph). Corn crops, valued at $700,000, were also flattened. A home in downtown Janesville had a bedroom addition crushed when a tree fell on it. The winds also blew down a barn on Creek Road where it crosses Turtle Creek, as well as a giant 22-foot, 2,000 pound fiberglass pumpkin off of a 65-foot tall silo at Meyer's Farm Market north of Janesville.

County sheriff deputies reported trees and power lines were blown down by the strong thunderstorm gusts. The AWOS at Janesville airport recorded a 58 mph (50 knot) wind gust at 345 pm CDT.

Powerful thunderstorm winds raked the city of Janesville. At least 50 large trees were uprooted, and numerous power-lines were down. A metal roof of a business was ripped off by the winds. Elsewhere, a tree fell on a flatbed truck (minor damage), and a carriage house roof was blown off. Heavy rains resulted in minor urban flooding and a couple stalled vehicles.

Police reported numerous trees and power lines down between Milton and Janesville. Roof damage was reported in Janesville from the thunderstorm wind gusts, and several homes were damaged by tree debris. One home had some windows blown out. Barn damage was noted in the countryside around Janesville. A 68 knot (78 mph) wind gust was recorded at the Janesville Airport (KJVL).

Many large trees in or near the city of Beloit were uprooted or damaged by powerful, non-thunderstorm, gradient high winds due to a wake-low situation. A thunderstorm complex had previously moved west to east across northern Illinois, while an area of low pressure developed over the Wiscosnin River Valley northwest of Madsion. The resultant increase in the surface pressure gradient across southern Wisconsin resulted in the development of high winds.

Lightning struck an Alliant Energy electrical substation, blowing out a circuit. About 800 customers went without power for about one hour.

Powerful thunderstorm winds toppled several trees and tree debris brought down a couple power-lines.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts leveled many large trees, and blew down a pole shed that had 30 cows inside.

Powerful thunderstorm winds toppled large trees, and knocked down tree branches that brought down power-lines.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts toppled large trees.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts toppled several large trees and broke branches that brought down some power-lines.

Powerful thunderstorm wind gusts toppled several large trees and broke branches that brought down some power-lines. Some light posts were broken on the north and northeast sides of Janesville.

Powerful thunderstorms winds knocked down large trees and power-lines.

Strong southeast wake-low winds gusting to 39 knots (45 mph) resulted in scattered reports of broken tree branches damaging power-lines.

One thunderstorm cell, in a cluster of cells, generated powerful winds gusts to around 52 knots (60 mph) that toppled large trees in the Janesville vicinity. At least five city streets were briefly blocked by tree debris. At one residence, several large branches came down on a home and damaged the roof and enclosed porch. The storm cluster eventually moved into Walworth County to the east and weakened. Associated lightning in the Janesville vicinity was described as impressive. Several power poles and transformers were struck by lightning, resulting in the loss of power for about 10.500 customers in Rock County and 300 customers in Walworth County.

Powerful thunderstorm winds knocked down large trees, and destroyed an aluminum shed.

Trees and power lines down in a large swath from northwestern to southeastern Rock County. In the city of Janesville, at least 3 cars were damaged by felled trees or tree branch debris. Several roads were temporarily blocked by tree debris.

Trees and powerlines down.

Several lines of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds affected South Central Wisconsin during the late evening hours of May 19th, lasting into the early morning hours of May 20th. Some structural damage occurred, with many trees and power lines downed by winds that were sustained for 10 to 20 minutes at a time up to 44 mph (38 knots), and gusting to 60 mph (52 knots). The lines of severe storms were moving around 40 knots (46 mph) driven a by a 50-60 knot low-level jet ahead of one of a series of a short-wave impulses that crossed the region. The combination of actual storm speed and the momentum transfer of the strong low-level jet winds being brought down to the surface with the storm precipitation produced the damaging wind gusts.

A strong surface pressure-gradient developed between high pressure over the Ohio River Valley and low pressure crossing southern Ontario. This resulted in strong gradient winds from the southwest of 25 to 30 mph (22 to 26 knots)....with gusts estimated up to 45 mph (39 knots) in far southern portions of South-Central Wisconsin during the afternoon of September 19th. Wind gusts between 35 and 40 mph (30 to 35 knots) were reported at many locations across southern Wisconsin. Scattered power outages were reported due to broken tree branches impacting power-lines.

A strengthening low-level jet pushed over a stalled frontal boundary over southern Wisconsin with a very warm, moist and unstable air mass under very steep lapse rates provided the focus for strong to severe thunderstorms during the pre-dawn hours of July 24th. The severe thunderstorms produced a discontinous swath of damaging wind gusts that downed trees and power lines from near Darlington in Lafayette County, eastward across Green and Rock counties to Lake Geneva in Walworth County.

Increasing warm air advection and moisture transport on a 50 to 60 knot low-level jet, with increasing instability under steepening mid-level lapse rates, produced elevated thunderstorms with large hail during the early morning hours of June 8th. As the nocturnal low level inversion mixed out with daytime heating during the mid-morning hours, the storms became surface based, with damaging wind gusts as well as large hail. Additionally, the elevated nature of the showers and thunderstorms, especially in far southern Wisconsin, caused the rain underneath to evaporate before reaching the ground. The evaporated rain cooled the air below the cloud base and caused it to accelerate toward the ground, creating isolated heat bursts in Green and Rock counties with damaging wind gusts that downed trees and power lines, and also rapidly raised air temperatures 10 to 20 degrees F.

A powerful low pressure center, passing south of Wisconsin, produced blizzard conditions across much of southern Wisconsin from the evening hours of Tuesday, February 1st into the early morning of Wednesday, February 2nd. Snow associated with the system began in the mid-afternoon hours of February 1st in far southern Wisconsin and became heavy as it pushed northward into the state through the evening. Very strong winds were associated with this storm for an extended period of time. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph were common through the event, with peak wind gusts between 45 and 55 mph. The combination of high winds and heavy snow created whiteout conditions with visibilities falling to near zero. Twenty-four hour snowfall totals were between 14 and 15 inches. In addition to the blizzard, several inches of snow fell on Jan 31. It's possible that some locations did not see a break in snowfall between the evening of January 31st and the morning of February 2nd. Many cooperative observer stations set records for multi-day snowfall totals. Beloit tied a record with a one-day (2/1) snowfall of 15 inches, is tied for second place with two-day (1/31-2/1) total of 17.0 inches and tied for fifth with a three-day (1/31-2/2) snowfall of 17.0 inches. Snow drifts of 3 to 8 feet were common, with reports of some drifts reaching 12 to 15 feet in open rural areas. Many area school districts dismissed classes early on February 1st, and remained closed on the 2nd and 3rd. A Civil Danger Warning was issued by Wisconsin Emergency Management concerning the dangerous driving conditions. Interstate 43 from Beloit to Mukwonago was closed, as well as portions of Interstate 90, with many stranded motorists having to be rescued from vehicles buried in the drifting snow. About 100 National Guardsman were mobilized statewide in response to Gov. Scott Walker's emergency declaration for 29 counties to help rescue motorists and run emergency shelters at armories. Rock County sheriff deputies had to abandoned their squad cars and jump into National Guard Humvees and Army trucks, which also got stuck in the deep drifts. Wisconsin DNR snowmobiles also became stuck in the deep snow. A 66-year old Janesville man was hospitalized for hypothermia after he fell and was subsequently buried by snow from a snow plow before being found by a neighbor a dug out of the snow bank 4 hours later. The blizzard conditions prevented firefighters from reaching a house fire in Gratiot (Lafayette County) until conditions improved enough for a plow to clear the road. The house was a total loss. Alliant energy reported 7,263 customers in the Milton-Edgerton area were without power at the height of the storm.

Counties along the Illinois border saw snow quickly turn over to freezing rain during the December 23rd afternoon hours which resulted in a low-end ice storm. Ice accumulations of 1/4 to 1/2 inch coated trees and power lines causing them to break. Many roads became very slippery, and dozens of vehicle accidents were reported. North of this ice storm area, winter storm conditions were experienced. A band of moderate, to at times heavy, snow extended from near Milwaukee to just north of Madison to the Wisconsin Dells area, producing 2 to 6 inches of snow before changing over to sleet and freezing rain overnight. Synoptically, warm air advection with a short wave aloft followed by a surface low pressure lifting northward from the southern Plains brought a mix of snow...sleet and freezing rain to southern Wisconsin the afternoon of Wednesday, December 23rd into the morning of Thursday, December 24th.

A convective thunderstorm complex originated in southern Minnesota, and moved southeast to the Chicago area. Powerful downburst winds were generated. The complex was associated with a short-wave trough aloft, and good warm-air advection at 850 mb. Air temperatures were in the lower to mid 80s and surface dewpoints were in the upper 60s to lower 70s.

A fast-moving, broken, line of thunderstorms moved northeast through Rock, Walworth, and Jefferson counties during the early morning hours of March 5, 2004. Although the thunderstorm cells were compact on radar, their wet-microbursts generated locally, brief, powerful, straight-line winds of 50 to 65 knots (58-75 mph). In the city of Clinton, half of a home's roof was torn off, and the resultant wind-generated debris then damaged a nearby garage and a pick-up truck. Otherwise the powerful winds uprooted large trees or cracked large tree limbs, or toppled power lines/power poles.

Powerful west to northwest, post-cold-frontal winds occurred over parts of south-central and southeast Wisconsin. Maximum wind gusts were 56 kts (65 mph) at Lake Beulah (Walworth Co.), which is near East Troy; 56 kts (64 mph) at a school in Milton (Rock Co.), which is part of Madison TV-15's WEATHERNET; and 53 kts (61 mph) on the southwest side of Watertown (Jefferson Co.). Some large trees or large tree branches were toppled onto some power lines, resulting in loss of commercial power for a couple hours. In Janesville (Rock Co.), a wind-toppled lage tree scraped a lot of paint off a vehicle. At least 6200 customers in southeast Wisconsin lost electrical power, but there were no serious fires, injuries, or deaths.

Scattered thunderstorms affected the south-central part of Wisconsin during the morning hours. One of them briefly pulsed to severe weather limits, and produced downburst, straight-line winds that toppled large trees near Benton (Lafayette Co.). Wind gusts were estimated to be 56 knots (65 mph). Lightning struck a power transformer on the west side of Beloit, resulting the loss of electricity to dozens of homes and some schools for a few hours. July 8, 2003, was the 5th consecutive day with some kind of severe weather in south-central and/or southeast Wisconsin. Synoptically, a frontal boundary was located from southern Iowa through central Illinois. Warm-air advection and a vorticity lobe triggered the storms.

Widely scattered marginally-severe thunderstorms popped up over parts of south-central and southeast Wisconsin during a typical summer day. Powerful gusty winds to an estimated 56 knots (65 mph) toppled large trees and some power-lines.

Scattered severe thunderstorms popped up over parts of south-central and southeast Wisconsin, resulting in scattered damage reports. Downburst winds gusting to around 60 mph leveled large trees in parts of Green, Rock, and Walworth counties. The tree debris brought down more power lines in Janesville (Rock Co.), causing the loss of electrical power to another 500 customers. This was on the heels of the major macroburst which raked Janesville the day before. The main cluster of thunderstorms which developed over Green County displayed supercell characteristics and had a hook echo/BWER/mesocyclone as it moved east into Rock County. Funnel clouds were noted over Orfordville and Hanover (Rock Co.), but no tornado spin ups were reported. Low-level inflow into the storms was from the southwest/west. Synoptically, the storms developed ahead of a cold front found from eastern Iowa into southwestern Wisconsin. Air temperatures were in the lower to mid 80s with surface dewpoints in the lower to mid 70s. LI's were -5 to -8 and CAPES were 1500-2000.