Story originally printed in the Coulee News or online at www.couleenews.com

Published - Friday, June 27, 2008

June showers shatter rainfall records

The storms that pounded southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin and triggered floods earlier this month also broke hundreds of rainfall records in the first half of June.

From June 1 to 15, 464 daily precipitation records were set in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota; 76 of those were in the Coulee Region, according to the National Weather Service in La Crosse.

Eight locations already have topped their previous June rainfall records, and more records likely will be broken as the weather service compiles precipitation reports in the coming weeks.

The Wisconsin towns of Ontario, Viroqua and Westby, as well as Decorah and Dorchester in Iowa, all set new monthly rainfall records as of June 15.

Ontario and Hillsboro, Wis., set records for the wettest day ever on June 8, when they received 6.1 and 4.8 inches respectively. Ontario’s previous record dated back to 1978, while Hillsboro’s was set on Aug. 19, 2007.

All stories copyright 2006 Coulee News and other attributed sources.