Thundershowers and possible 'very weak' tornado in southern Wisconsin Election Day forecast
The National Weather Service says southern Wisconsin voters should be "weather aware" as they head to the polls, with thundershowers and a possible weak tornado now in the Election Day forecast.
A system heading east across the state and fueled by a cold front on Tuesday is expected to bring rain, thunder and high winds, with gusts up to 40-50 mph, across southern Wisconsin in the late morning and early afternoon, said Milwaukee-Sullivan NWS meteorologist Andrew Quigley. In Milwaukee, rain is in the forecast through 8 p.m.
Quigley said lightning is unlikely with the thundershowers as "there's not a ton of instability or fuel in the atmosphere to really give you true thunderstorms today. ... In a thundershower, there's always a potential of lightning, but today, we're not expecting a whole lot of that, maybe not even any lighting at all."
Due to the high winds, however, this is an "outside chance" of a "very weak" tornado, he said. Quigley explained that tornado activity is most likely between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in southwestern Wisconsin, noon and 4 p.m. in the Madison area, and 2 and 6 p.m. in communities along Lake Michigan including Milwaukee.
He said NWS doesn't expect to issue many weather warnings today but voters should be prepared.
"We would encourage people heading out to the polls today to be 'weather aware,' have a way of staying updated on the forecast and getting the latest information ... on the outside chance we do issue a couple warnings."
Weather should be calm by the late evening. Wednesday is expected to be sunny with highs in the low 50s and minimal winds.
