I hope you had a great weekend.  I am working the evening newscasts for John this week...and what a start it was.  When I got to work this afternoon it was cloudy, foggy and 55 degrees, but it was 80 and humid in Chicago.  The warm front was coming and we knew there was going to be a threat of severe weather and Michael Fish and I were ready.  By 2pm the storms started popping and temperatures jumped into the 70s and the humidity became very thick..it was all the fuel needed for storms.

Large hail and heavy rain was being reported west of Milwaukee and by 3pm a tornado warning was issued for the Mukwonago area.  We were on the air doing continuous storm coverage for nearly 3 hours and we covered the storm perfectly thanks to hard work from many people that get us on the air everyday.

  Wind damage was being reported near Mukwonago and radar was indicating the potential for a tornado and I was warning the folks in that area to take shelter.  The National Weather Service is now confirming a very weak tornado...here is their statement I received at 9:55pm, just before the newscast at 10pm.

0338 PM TORNADO 1 WSW MUKWONAGO 42.86N 88.35W

06/08/2009 WAUKESHA WI NWS STORM SURVEY

MINIMAL WEAK TORNADO TRAVELED FROM 1.6 WSW MUKWONAGO

EASTWARD TO 1.5 MILES EAST OF MUKWONAGO BY 342 PM. NOT A

CONTINUOUS PATH. TREE DAMAGE NOTED. UNKNOWN IF THERE WAS

STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. PRELIM RATED AS AN EF0 WITH WINDS OF

65 MPH. MOST LIKELY A RAIN-WRAPPED TORNADO AT TIMES AND

DIFFICULT TO SEE. A THANKS IS EXTENDED TO THE MUKWONAGO

POLICE FOR THEIR HELP.

So it was a weak tornado in addition to straight line winds at the front of the storm with the gust front.  Mukwonago also had hailstones the size of ping pong balls.  By 5:30pm the storms moved over the lake after dropping heavy rain on Milwaukee's southside.  Tornado sirens did sound in Milwaukee, but no tornadoes were spotted in the area thankfully, but radar was showing weak rotation. The rest of the evening was quiet and after the adrenaline rushed out, I was actually beat.  What a start to the week, but the rest of the week is quiet.  I love storm coverage, but hate seeing the damage...at least it was minimal for this storm.

By the way, this was  the first severe weather event of the season...we were way overdue.

My weekend was very relaxing.  The weather was not so great until Sunday afternoon, but I got things done around the house and the three of us took a 2 hour nap on Saturday afternoon.  That felt awesome and we stayed home all day and night...we even watched a movie with the fireplace on..it felt like winter outside.

I will be on the evening newscasts all week...watch Tuesday night and I will explain why we have been so cool this spring and early summer.