29. Cold conditions across northern Wisconsin since a cold front passed through on Tuesday, rain and t-storms overnight.
This screenshot (to the right) is from my Vantage Pro weather station, showing a variety of variables over the last three days.
The top section graphs temperature (blue) and dew point (green). It's obvious when the air mass changed, and equally obvious that the cold air has hung around the last three days.
The second section shows sustained windspeed (light purple) and wind gusts (dark purple). The third section displays wind directions, and the bottom has both atmospheric pressure (black line) and rainfall amounts (light blue).
Plenty of rain across the entire region.
I snapped a picture (to the left) of rain beading up on a lupine leaf in the garden this morning. Flash Flood Watches have been dropped across the northern part of the state - streams and rivers have risen, but to troublesome levels. However, with more rain today across the southern part of the state, flooding is still a major concern since rivers have already been above their banks the past four days.
Radar estimation and some reports.
This image (to the right) is a radar capture of radar's estimated rainfall. Some of the higher 24 hour totals from the region:
2.26" Hawthorne, Douglas Co. 2.20" Moquah (1SE), Bayfield Co. 2.25" Clam Lake (4NW), Bayfield Co. 2.15" Port Wing, Bayfield Co. 2.40" Sarona, Washburn Co. 2.30" Cumberland, Barron Co. 2.86" La Pointe, Ashland Co. 2.00" Highbridge (4SW), Ashland Co. 2.13" Menomonie, Dunn Co. 2.00" Spring Valley, Pierce Co.
I measured 1.47" this morning at 7:00.
While light showers continued through the early morning hours across the north, the heaviest rain has moved east into the UP of Michigan and eastern Wisconsin.
Seven river gauges currently report 'major flooding' in areas of southern Wisconsin, with new rainfall today, more flooding is expected.
This radar image (to the left), from the National Weather Service, shows current regional radar at 11:25 this morning. The yellow and red colors indicate heavier rainfall falling on areas that have had too much rain in the last five days.
Flash Flood Watches remain in effect across that area, with most rivers near or above flood stage.
From my lightning sensor's point of view.
Several years ago, I bought a lightning sensor from Stormwise.com, which has been a fun and informational project since then. More information about my equipment and set-up can be found here. Two examples of powerful storms can be found at the bottom of that page.
I put the data into Excel (to the right), simply because I have not found a method to take a screenshot of fullscreen DOS - the recording/analyzing software runs in DOS. Several things to note, the sensor has the ability to count individual lightning strokes down to 1/1000th of a second. The software then adds the counts up and displays them in a minute-by-minute graph. In addition to the 60-second count, the software separately counts 'bursts', which are defined as 9 (or more) strokes per second. I have added bursts to the graph as a black line.
Bursts are created in stronger lightning bolts when a number of individual strokes make up the whole flash. Lightning like this seems to flicker to the human eye since our eyes are not quick enough to differentiate between individual strokes. However, the lightning sensor can measure the difference and uses these bursts as a signal of strength.
From my previous experiences, the data from yesterday indicates that the storms were generally weak and disorganized. This conclusion matches well with data from radar and ground observations. For a comparison with severe and organized storms can be found in the two examples I previously mentioned.
Plenty of rain across the entire region.
Radar estimation and some reports. 
While light showers continued through the early morning hours across the north, the heaviest rain has moved east into the UP of Michigan and eastern Wisconsin.
From my lightning sensor's point of view.