Rare, out-of-season severe thunderstorms, with up to golf-ball to baseball-size hail, pelted parts of southern Wisconsin during the overnight hours of October 23, 2001.  The storms cut a swath from southern Green County to the Janesville/Beloit area in Rock County, to the area east of Elkhorn (Walworth Co.), to the southern part of the city of Racine (Racine Co.).  The largest hailstones, and consequently the greatest amount of damage, occurred in the southern part of city of Racine.  In Racine, many vehicles were dented, several skylight windows were smashed, the roofs of several residential homes were damaged, and one sunroom was demolished by the large hailstones.  Eyewitness reports indicated that the hailstorm duration was about 15 to 20 minutes as a series of thunderstorm cells trained west to east across the same part of the city.  Consequently, rainfalls of about 1.50 inches occurred, based on WSR-88D Doppler radar estimates.  Newspapers reported that 2.80 inches of rain fell in the city of Janesville, but there were no reports of flooding.  Rain-water accumulated into a 3 to 4 foot deep river on Kearney Ave. in the city of Racine, which stalled a couple cars and then spilled over into several basements.  Two people had to climb onto the roof of their vehicle.  The rain-water accumulation was due to hail-striped leaves clogging storm sewers.  This same rain-water river washed hail into mounds 1 to 2 feet deep on Kearney Ave, forcing local residents to shovel and snow-blow the hail to the side.  A couple city roads had to be plowed!  A two-apartment home in the city of Racine was severely damaged when its basement wall collapsed due to urban flooding triggered by the heavy rains and leave-clogged storm sewers.  Six people were evacuated from the building. The monetary damage amount assigned to the hailstorm in Racine is an estimate based on newspaper accounts.  Synoptically, the hailstones were the result of elevated convection north of warm front that was over northern Illinois.  The warm front extended back to a low pressure over central Minnesota.  South of the warm front, surface dewpoints were in the lower 60s.  WSR-88D Doppler imagery indicated that several of the thundestorms had mesocyclones extending from about 7000 to 20,000 feet AGL, but there was only one funnel cloud report.

Hail in GREEN, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:10:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:10:00 (CST)
Location: JUDA
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in GREEN, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:19:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:19:00 (CST)
Location: BROWNTOWN
Magnitude: 1.75 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in GREEN, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:25:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:25:00 (CST)
Location: BRODHEAD
Magnitude: 1.75 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in ROCK, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:36:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:36:00 (CST)
Location: ORFORDVILLE
Magnitude: 0.88 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in ROCK, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:57:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:57:00 (CST)
Location: AFTON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in GREEN, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 21:35:00 to 23-OCT-01 21:35:00 (CST)
Location: MONROE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in ROCK, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 22:06:00 to 23-OCT-01 22:06:00 (CST)
Location: AVALON
Magnitude: 1.75 
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Funnel Cloud in ROCK, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 22:09:00 to 23-OCT-01 22:09:00 (CST)
Location: SHOPIERE
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in WALWORTH, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 22:05:00 to 23-OCT-01 22:05:00 (CST)
Location: DARIEN
Magnitude: 1.75 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in WALWORTH, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 23:00:00 to 23-OCT-01 23:00:00 (CST)
Location: LYONS
Magnitude: 1.00 
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Hail in RACINE, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 23:45:00 to 23-OCT-01 23:45:00 (CST)
Location: RACINE
Magnitude: 2.75 
Property damage: 100K
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hail in RACINE, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 23:15:00 to 23-OCT-01 23:15:00 (CST)
Location: BURLINGTON
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO

Hail in KENOSHA, WISCONSIN
From 23-OCT-01 23:29:00 to 23-OCT-01 23:29:00 (CST)
Location: PARIS
Magnitude: 0.75 
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO

Flood in RACINE, WISCONSIN
From 24-OCT-01 01:00:00 to 24-OCT-01 07:00:00 (CST)
Location: RACINE
Property damage: 50K
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER