SUN PRAIRIE RISING

People starting their work week on Monday, April 13^th were happily greeted with what might have been called “the nicest day of 2026.”  A high of 70, with elevated humidity, made it almost feel like summer, rather than the heart of spring in Sun Prairie.

But as the day turned to night, the warmer weather came with a price.  In the evening hours, a major thunderstorm began moving across south-central Wisconsin bringing wind gusts up to 60 mph.  Shortly after midnight, sirens began blaring to alert residents that a tornado warning had been issued for Dane County.  Many areas lost power overnight.

Residents around Sun Prairie awoke on Tuesday morning to survey the damage.  Some of it was minor – lawns full of tree branches, signs tipped over, dumpsters in the driveway.  But this was clearly a major storm.  A significant number of large trees, thick trunks weathered with decades of growth, were blown down, their roots reaching for the sky instead of their branches.  In nearby Bristol, the storm tore the roof off St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.   At the former site of Emily’s Ten Oaks Ranch on Hoepker and Portage Rd, reports suggested that 5 trees had come down, but Dakota the Bison was safe. 

If you’re driving through Sun Prairie, it’s hard to miss the sign at the corner of Windsor St (Hwy 19) and Bird.  A symbol of Sun Prairie’s civic involvement, dotted with logos of groups like the Lions, Rotary and Optimist Clubs, it too fell victim to the storm’s shearing winds.

Mayor Steve Stocker lauded the city’s dedicated employees, posting to social media, “Many kudos to the Sun Prairie Public Works team who came out in the driving rain at 1:30 AM to begin cleaning up the trees which had fallen in the streets. I feel very blessed that we have such a phenomenal team that will do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

But even while workers and neighbors were still in the midst of clean up, putting away their chainsaws and leaf blowers for the day, warnings about a second night of storms  started coming in.

At 1:44pm, the school district sent an e-mail to families stating “Due to the threat of severe weather, including large hail and possible tornados, we are canceling all student activities and facility use by outside user groups beginning at 6 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, April 14.”  Interviews with the finalists for superintendent were originally planned to continue as scheduled, but by 5:40pm the district was advising the public to shelter in place. 

The district’s e-mail addressed some pushback from the community, stating “There have also been questions wondering why not reschedule the final interviews. However, we want to be fair to the finalists, who have been in the District for the past two days.” 

While it’s familiar to see communication about cancellations for big snow storms, it’s hard to remember a time the district acted based on other severe weather.

The city closed all municipal buildings at 3pm and Sunshine Place closed the food pantry early.  At 5:15 pm, the now familiar sound of weather alerts started vibrating on phones, warning of possible baseball sized hail.  At 5:21 pm, another tornado warning, the 2^nd in as many nights, was issued until 6pm.

While several downed trees did cause property damage, Sun Prairie has been fortunate that no injuries or fatalities have been reported because of the storms.

by Andy Schoenherr
Editor, Sun Prairie Rising

This is a developing story.  Sun Prairie Rising will continue to update this article with important details related to the severe weather.