...WHAT IS THE FAVORITE CLOCK HOUR FOR SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS... A BEAN-COUNT WAS DONE TO DETERMINE THE PEAK INITIATION HOUR AND MONTH OF A VARIETY OF WARM-SEASON WEATHER EVENTS THAT AFFECT WISCONSIN. THIS WAS DONE FOR THE TIME PERIOD OF 1982-2002. BELOW IS A TABLE OF RESULTS... WATERSPOUTS /WISCONSIN WATERS ON LAKE MICHIGAN AND LAKE SUPERIOR/ ............................AUGUST...200 PM-300 PM CDT TORNADOES...................JULY.....600 PM-700 PM FUNNEL CLOUDS...............JULY.....800 PM-900 PM THUNDERSTORM WINDS..........JULY.....600 PM-700 PM LARGE HAIL..................JUNE.....600 PM-700 PM FLASH FLOODS................JUNE.....900 PM-1000 PM FLOODS......................JUNE.....100 AM-200 AM URBAN/SMALL STREAM FLOODS...JULY.....600 PM-700 PM COMPOSITE OF ALL EVENTS.....JUNE.....600 PM-700 PM CDT MONTHLY DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR SHORT-FUSE SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS /TORNADO...THUNDERSTORM WIND...LARGE HAIL...AND FLASH FLOODS/... FOR THE PERIOD OF 1982-2002... FLASH MONTH MONTH MONTH TORNADO TSTM WINDS HAIL FLOOD TOTAL PERCENT JAN 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 FEB 0 12 8 0 20 0.23 MAR 7 54 149 5 215 2.48 APR 45 227 264 1 537 6.20 MAY 90 669 554 43 1356 15.6 JUN 161 1323 588 133 2205 25.4 JUL 169 1325 458 54 2006 23.1 AUG 82 919 389 83 1473 17.0 SEP 60 304 294 92 750 8.65 OCT 8 51 32 3 94 1.08 NOV 0 7 3 0 10 0.11 DEC 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 YEAR 622 4891 2739 414 8666 PERCENT 7.1 56.4 31.6 4.8 TORNADOES MAY OCCUR DURING EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. IN WISCONSIN THEIR PEAK MONTH OF OCCURRENCE IS IN JULY...AND TORNADOES MOST OFTEN OCCUR BETWEEN THE MONTHS OF MAY AND AUGUST. TORNADOES MAY OCCUR AT ANY HOUR OF THE DAY...BUT IN THE PAST 21 YEARS TORNADOES IN WISCONSIN INITIATED MOST OFTEN BETWEEN 6 PM AND 7 PM...WITH A PEAK 6-HOUR INITIATION PERIOD OF 3 PM TO 9 PM CDT. WHEN CONDITIONS FOR SEVERE WEATHER ARE POSSIBLE...PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL NEWS MEDIA FOR THE POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF A SEVERE WEATHER WATCH...OR SEVERE WEATHER WARNING. REMEMBER THAT A WATCH IS ISSUED WHEN CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER TO DEVELOP...AND A WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SEVERE WEATHER IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. TORNADOES...OR ANY OTHER SEVERE WEATHER EVENT...MAY OCCUR 24 HOURS A DAY...365 DAYS A YEAR. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE PREPARED. WISCONSIN WEATHER...LIKE THE REST OF THE UNITED STATES...CAN CHANGE AT A MOMENTS NOTICE. STAY INFORMED OF POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATIONS BY STAYING TUNED TO YOUR NOAA WEATHER RADIO...AND LOCAL OR CABLE NEWS AND RADIO STATIONS. ENVIRONMENTAL CLUES THAT SEVERE WEATHER...ESPECIALLY TORNADOES...MAY BE DEVELOPING INCLUDE A DARK...MAYBE GREENISH SKY...LOW-HANGING AND ROTATING WALL CLOUDS...OR LARGE HAIL. ALSO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR FLASH FLOODING...LIGHTNING...STRONG WINDS...OR HAIL. THESE EVENTS MAY BE JUST AS DEADLY...IF NOT MORE SO THAN TORNADOES OR OTHER TYPES OF SEVERE WEATHER. SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER DEVELOP IN YOUR AREA...ENABLE YOUR EMERGENCY DISASTER PLAN IMMEDIATELY. MOVE INDOORS TO A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM OR AT THE VERY LEAST...FIND SOME FORM OF PERMANENT SHELTER TO TAKE COVER IN. IT IS UP TO YOU TO BE PREPARED FOR THE ONSET OF SEVERE WEATHER. $$ KAPELA/KONOP/HANSING NNNN