Tour 5 Day 5 Wisconsin

[ian cameron]

from our over night in minneapolis we are heading east into wisconsin to Eau Claire things have already started to pop so we are motering along as we type

[Paul]

The stream is live:

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=chaselive;sess=

[ian cameron]

had lunch we have headed slighty east of Eau Claire and are looking at the cells to our south so will be going to take a look at them now

[Paul]

Action kicking off now, severe storms and tornado warned cells all around the team.

http://goo.gl/8Czdt

[ian cameron]

wisconsin was pretty but to no avail now to plan B back into minnesota prob stay around Albert lea and let the hail risk come over us later tonight

[Roger J Smith]

Yes, you're about to witness the power of the early morning thunderstorm complex that is often found along stalled fronts between energy centres in the summer. We used to get these a lot in central Ontario as well, lots of lightning and torrential rainfalls, maybe a bit of hail, not too much wind usually, although once or twice in a hundred cases you can get a good rotation going. It's mainly about the thunder and lightning with these 0400-0600 local time type storms. For UK readers, they are now in CDT so it's getting on to about 10 p.m. in southern MN. Some cells are developing to their west over s.e. SD and this represents the stalled front which is the northern boundary of the mT air mass. Activity is likely to peak later as the energy encounters higher dew points streaming north over the ripening corn fields of Iowa. (the technical term is corn sweat)

[Roger J Smith]

I see that the team are on the move north to Mankato MN as we approach the noon hour in their time zone.

A strong frontal boundary lies to the west and northwest of that location and I would say storm development is very likely between Willmar MN and Sioux Falls SD later today.