Gen-Z Reacts to Wisconsin’s Record-Breaking April Storms.  

Spring had finally arrived, but with a downside. Milwaukee saw sunny skies and high 70s during the day, thunderstorms and softball-sized hail at night. But a preview of summer weather was pushing people out of their homes. On 414-day, people flocked to the nearest Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop for free cone day.

In the Historic Third Ward, a swirling dark blue and white sky with scattered lightning hovered over the line that wrapped around the store. Young adults, armed with umbrellas, shorts and t-shirts, chatted with friends about which flavor they are getting.

Kenzie Walker is 21 years old and has experienced many tornados growing up. They said that the Midwest’s unpredictable weather is like what they experienced growing up in Texas.

Walker remembers being frightened when their family had to take shelter in the bathroom with their pets. After experiencing hundreds of warnings and watches throughout their life, they’re not as easily scared today.

“When you’re around it for a while, you can definitely sense if it’s going to go badly,” they said.

While waiting in line, the tornado watch turned into a warning. No one abandoned their place in line, in fact, the young crowd began laughing when everyone’s phone began playing the loud alarm notification from the National Weather Service. After deciding to stay in line with two friends, Walker enjoyed a cone with half baked flavored ice cream.

“I think the more people that stayed, the less scared people were, it was also like, ‘we’re all together in this. If we go down, we’ll go down together,” they said. “It was kind of entertaining, very funny.”

Six tornados touched down in Wisconsin on April 14th alone, with the most dangerous being an EF3 tornado, on a scale from 0 to 5, in Union Center. From April 14 to April 19, the NWS’s Milwaukee station issued 43 tornado warnings, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

This was not the only concern; many severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings were issued throughout the week.

A study found that “Tornado Alley,” a term used to describe the area of the U.S that is most susceptible to tornados, has “shifted away from the Great Plains and toward the Midwest.”

Recent climate changes have prompted inquiries about the effect on tornadoes and severe storms, with the amount steadily increasing since 2014, according to the National Centers for Enviornmental Information

While this is happening, Gen-Z dances and records themselves in the middle of the storms. Many videos on social media show teenagers and young adults outside under dark skies or in the rain, allegedly mocking the storm warnings.

A TikTok video shows a recording of someone dancing in the heavy rain with the caption “tornado?????? Where??????”

@realizelife._

😭😭😭😭 #fyp #milwaukee #fypp #viral

♬ Wham wack it – Big Layyy🦍💕

Back at the Ben & Jerry’s line, people recorded how they were outside “in the middle of a tornado.”

“I thought it was kind of silly to see people ‘report’ on the situation as they filmed themselves or friends,” said Itzel Duran, a 21-year-old who was also in line for a free cone.

She was not extremely concerned because, in her experience, tornado warnings are not as intense as they are made out to be. But once the sky got darker, and the thunder and lightning persisted, she became anxious and left.

“For the people waiting in line, I can’t say I judged them too much since they’d likely been there for a while and a lot of those people probably lived within the Third ward,” she said. “So, getting to a safe place wouldn’t have been an issue.”

The Damage

The April storms caused devastating and critical damage to homes and cars, some experiencing trees being uprooted and falling onto their property.

A total of 24 tornados touched down across the state, primarily in Southern and Central Wisconsin, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Heavy rain persisted around Wisconsin for multiple nights. Milwaukee experienced 9.49” of rain and Madison had 7.26”, breaking the record for the wettest April, according to the NWS.

The record-breaking storms also brought hail. Residents were seeing baseball and softball sized hail around the state.

Streets were closed around Milwaukee when the storm caused flash flooding. Drains were clogged with leaves, trash and mud in an already soaked area. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District’s reported a combined sewer overflow of 2.7 billion gallons.