August 21, 2018

Most rain ever in a single day, here in my county, Dane (and it's still raining).

"The National Weather Service earlier said it had reports that 11 to 13 inches had fallen in some spots in western Dane County," the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Lots of people driving into flooded roadways:
Local first responders were called to dozens of water rescues from people trapped in vehicles overnight.... The Madison Fire Department had earlier Monday night said all water rescues had been successful, but told drivers to “turn around, don’t drown!”

“Madison fire was going from one spot to another to another,” said J. McLellan, spokesman for Dane County Emergency Management, about the calls for vehicles stuck in water, adding that it was the same for Dane County Sheriff’s deputies....

47 comments:

rhhardin said...

If you bicycle through a flood, rebuild the wheel and bottom bracket bearings. The lubrication will have been floated away and rusting begun.

stevew said...

Better yet, don't.

-sw

David Begley said...

That system was in Nebraska and Iowa yesterday. I guess it didn’t weaken.

stevew said...

Where'd it pick up all that moisture?

-sw

Rob said...

I have 11 to 13 inches, and it hasn't done me any harm.

Original Mike said...

I went up on the roof yesterday afternoon for another reason, but since I was up there I also cleaned out the gutters. No water in the basement! And my ongoing backyard drainage project passed with flying colors.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/wisconsin/weather-radar-24hr

tim maguire said...

I'm sometimes hit with wonder at how much water there can be up in the sky.

Good on the blinker driver. That sort of attention to detail is all too rare.

Ann Althouse said...

"No water in the basement! And my ongoing backyard drainage project passed with flying colors."

Us too. That was the ultimate test of whether we've got the drainage right.

David Begley said...

Six years of rain in 24 hours in downtown Omaha. Not predicted by the weather people. Global warming.

Heartless Aztec said...

That's an afternoon rain in noeth Florida. I exaggerate - but not by much.

tim in vermont said...

Rain hogs!

dix said...

The last time I was in Madison was July 1993 when there was serious flooding. I was there for an athletic tournament and 2 or 3 of the fields were still under a couple feet of water.

roesch/voltaire said...

My wife,returning from her agility class for our dog in Middleton, faced flooded roads and barely made it through the closed intersection leading to Cross Plains. She was lucky and shaken by the experience, but not stranded in deep water as some other drivers were.

Curious George said...

"No water in the basement! And my ongoing backyard drainage project passed with flying colors."


We got about half of what Madison got here in Milwaukee, which is still a lot. Basement is dry, so I passed too.

Crimso said...

"Most rain ever in a single day, here in my county, Dane"

I seriously doubt that. Most rain on record, perhaps. And how far back do the records go? And how many days were there before that?

Nashville got a rain like that in 2010 (and not just "in some spots"). Watch the YouTube video of the portable cruising down I-24. I still have trouble believing the water got as deep as it did in certain parts of the city. You expect it near the Cumberland River, you don't expect the Harpeth River (which is basically a creek) to cause cars to be fully submerged in Bellevue.

Tommy Duncan said...

This brings back memories of 2008 in the counties east of Madison, when the water was 30" deep in the living room of my childhood home.

traditionalguy said...

I always wonder where the song birds go to hide during such storms.

rhhardin said...

I seriously doubt that. Most rain on record, perhaps. And how far back do the records go? And how many days were there before that?

The universe can't be infinitely old because if it were, time wouldn't have gotten here yet.

MadisonMan said...

There were very tight gradients with this rain. I don't think University Heights or the region south of West High got nearly as much as Nakoma / Shorewood / Far West side.

I know lots of people in Middleton who recorded >10" of rain overnight. I doubt I had 5". Just a little water in the basement, so I'm not complaining. Shorewood Pool flooded completely, including the basement.

The 24-h record at Truax is <5", if I'm remembering right. Of course, summer precipitation is known to be very spotty.

Robert Cook said...

"'Most rain ever in a single day, here in my county, Dane'

"I seriously doubt that. Most rain on record, perhaps. And how far back do the records go? And how many days were there before that?"


It is presumed and thus goes without saying that announcements of "most rain (snow, sleet, etc.) in a single day" refer to what is on record. One doesn't have to state it, just as one doesn't need to say "I think" when stating what is obviously one's opinion.

MadisonMan said...

When rain is pouring down, anyone who chooses to drive by the soccer fields at Memorial -- designed the flood! -- or on University next to Whole Foods or DQ is an idiot.

Maybe the drivers are from Illinois and don't understand local topography.

Crimso said...

'It is presumed and thus goes without saying that announcements of "most rain (snow, sleet, etc.) in a single day" refer to what is on record. One doesn't have to state it, just as one doesn't need to say "I think" when stating what is obviously one's opinion.'

"Ever" has a specific meaning. You could say my comment was the stupidest comment ever, but when you throw "ever" into the mix then the presumption is that you are saying what you mean.

Mark said...

MadisonMan, that Whole Foods areas is legendary.

Middleton got trashed, its lucky we didnt lose one of the Highway M bridges over the Pheasant Branch. This morning there was less than a foot of clearance and water like I have never seen there.

I heard someone talk lots of missing pavement out by Costco and people forced to stay overnight at Ruth Chris.

Kay said...

Really sucks for these people. I’ve had my car inundated with water before. It’s nooo fun.

MadisonMan said...

Radar-estimates of precip from this event show a huge gradient with a bullseye west of downtown madison (Link that won't be there for long).

I'm not surprised about CostCo and the surroundings -- so much pavement to repel water into the surrounding ditches that will fill up quickly.

Fritz said...

We had 14 inches in 24 hours with Hurricane Floyd back in 1999. As little water crept into the basement, but nothing we couldn't handle.

It's been a really wet summer here. Yesterday we got an inch in one hour from a popcorn storm that barely showed on the radar. Grass is doing great.

Original Mike said...

”I know lots of people in Middleton who recorded >10" of rain overnight. I doubt I had 5".”

My 5” gauge is full. I live on the hill right next to Reservoir Park (the park the 300’ radio tower is in, near Hoyt Park).

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

LOL. Polite and the car has gills.

MadisonMan said...

I did see on FB pictures of a lot of water inside the Middleton CostCo. I'm guessing they'll be spending a couple days cleaning.

Original Mike said...

MadisonMan - What’s the site you linked to?

Robert Cook said...

"'Ever' has a specific meaning. You could say my comment was the stupidest comment ever, but when you throw "ever" into the mix then the presumption is that you are saying what you mean."

Yes, and "ever" means "ever (in recorded history)". This is a widely-understood given; everyone is aware there is no way to know the levels of rainfalls on specific days or over specific periods before recorded history, or before humankind even existed.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Signaling a lane change!? Who does that? Musta been drunk.

Bob Boyd said...

"That was a good lane change"

You could hear the admiration in his voice. The lane change, even under ideal conditions, is one of many maneuvers Wisconsin drivers find challenging.

Bob Boyd said...

"That was the ultimate test of whether we've got the drainage right."

I just realized my drainage system has a front hole and a back hole.

Curious George said...

"Bob Boyd said...
The lane change, even under ideal conditions, is one of many maneuvers Wisconsin drivers find challenging."

Fin challenging? They never do it. The get in the damn left lane and never leave.

MadisonMan said...

What’s the site you linked to?

It's from this site, and then I clicked on 'NEXRAD Radar'

Bob Boyd said...

If they start to drift one way or the other then jerk it back and the wipers come on, you know they're preparing to attempt a lane change.

Bob Boyd said...

A lot of times they just give up on it though.

Original Mike said...

Thanks MM!

I also found mid-level water vapor on the site. Very useful for my astronomy. Do you know if bright is high water vapor in those images?

Do you know where I can find atmospheric smoke images? I’ve spent time on the NOAA site but can’t make much sense of it.

Original Mike said...

re: smoke, I found this map on cleardarksky:

https://www.cleardarksky.com/alerts/smoke_map.html?x=1374&y=612&chart_id=MadisonWI&chart_title=Madison

They point back to NOAA, but when I click on their link I don’t find anything as clear cut as what’s on cleardarksky.

buwaya said...

This sort of flooding is Manila-normal.
An annual event in parts of the city, and often several times a year.
I don't know how many times I've had to wade back from school, and once had to walk two miles from work through one such flood, as streets were impassable and miles of traffic were stranded in the waters.

In Manila such events are even more amusing as the sewer system adds its contents to the floods, and it was common for scavengers to steal the iron manhole covers, leaving the holes as man-traps.

MadisonMan said...

OMike: those water vapor images are enhanced so that white is cold and dark is warm. It's usually the case that deep clouds accompany the white regions, but not always.

For smoke, there is always NASA Worldview (link) or HRRR Model output. You can also do backward trajectories to see where smoke comes from (the HySplit model) here.

Original Mike said...

MM: My need for water vapor is to know water content in cloudless skies (clouds are easy to discern). Atmospheric transparency is greatly hampered by high water content. Can I get that out of those water vapor images?

An example of use would be I’m set up to observe but the transparency sucks. But if I can look at a satellite image loop and I see drier air headed my way I stay up. Otherwise, I go to bed. ;-)

Original Mike said...

Thanks for the smoke leads. I’ll take a look.

Francisco D said...

We only get about 12" of rain yearly in Tucson, but when it comes down during monsoon season, it comes down hard. There are gates to close roads, tons of washes, dry river beds that fill up quickly and a "Stupid Motorist" law for drivers who ignore road closings.

I did not think much of it until a few weeks ago. We were driving back from the city at night and the wind and rain became extremely heavy. It was more terrifying because the area is not allowed to have street lights. Despite the massive drainage systems, the risk of aquaplaning is high.

Nonetheless, the lighting was beautiful against the mountains and a very dark sky.

Leland said...

11 to 12 inches in 24 hours is no joke. It will flood any location. However, to give perspective, where I lived received about 30 inches during TS Allison. And parts of Houston received 60 inches total over the 3-4 days of Hurricane Harvey.

Fritz said...

Maybe one of these guys should have signaled for a lane change.