Sigificant Severe Weather outbreak in Western Wisconsin, widespread wind damage, very heavy rain and flooding, and building damage in some areas.

Image of clouds from a severe storm on a storm chase I was a part of, at the 4 Corners, just south of Deer Park during the 3rd evening wave.

A Significant severe weather outbreak occurred Wednesday across Western Wisconsin, caused by a strong weather system, with a strong warm front that was parked just southwest of the area. Many people in the area are dealing with damage from multiple waves of severe storms that moved through, some communities even had up to 2 severe storm with damage roll through in one day, these storms that left widespread tree damage, flooding and even some structural damage across many local counties.

1st morning wave effected Burnett, Washburn, Northern Polk/Barron Counties.

The first wave came from a line of severe wind storms that swept through the Northern areas, this line developed a southern flank that effected Northern Polk and Barron counties, which later came tornado warned north of Turtle Lake, These storms brought widespread severe winds, and very heavy torrential downpours, Widespread reports of trees down came in from many communities in Burnett and Washburn Counties, and a few across Northern Barron County. The storm did have some rotation, enough to issue a tornado warning for Northwest Barron County, in the Turtle Lake/Cumberland areas, but no reports of a tornado came in, but trees were reported down in the City of Cumberland.

Photo taken from the roof of my house of a storm with rotation in the 1st wave just to my north.

Because this storm was so close to my north, I went on the roof of my house to see if I could see anything tornadic, I did not see anything that looked like a tornado, but I could see lots of low clouds and very dark-almost black skies with thunder.

St Croix County Morning Storm.

During the morning, south of the main wave that hit Burnett and Washburn Counties, one single storm formed in Central St Croix County, This storm did severe wind damage Northwest of Hammond, which did some structural damage to a couple of homes in a housing development and blew trucks off Interstate 94 near Baldwin, along with many trees downed in this area.



2nd afternoon Wave effecting Eastern Polk, Barron, St Croix and Dunn Counties



Picture of the green skies from the second wave in Ellsworth,WI

The second waved formed right over Polk and St Croix Counties behind some morning spot showers, this waves quickly developed into a severe line with damaging winds, and torrential downpours that produced flooding. I was on a storm chase with a friend from Minnesota which lead me Ellsworth,WI during the second wave, It was easy to tell there was a warm front because when we got to Ellsworth from Clayton, it was extremely humid, dewpoints were nearly 80.F! In Ellsworth, we were hit with torrential rain, and strong winds, We took shelter at gas station in town. When the storm was over and we were on our way, I saw a large mature pine tree on a house down the street from the gas station we were at. This line of storms continued east and did tree damage throughout St Croix and Dunn counties, in Menomonie, significant tree damage was reported along with power out in parts of the city, Trees were also reported down in Woodville and Boyceville. This storm also had torrential rains, some places picked up over 4 inches of rain! My brother told me Barron had water 3 feet deep on city streets, he said it was so bad, he had to pull over to prevent the car from shutting down. Flooded Streets was also reported in the city of Rice Lake.

Second Wave at My location.

Plants blown off our table from strong winds


The second wave of storms effected my house, but we were lucky, we only had minor damage. the storms developed just west, and were developed into a full line by the time they reached Clayton. My family said we got strong Northeast winds, which only did some very minor damage in my yard, but took trees down along Highway 63 2 miles Southwest of Clayton. When I came home, I saw all the houseplants on the north side of the table thrown onto the ground. One of these weighing about 10 pounds was thrown a couple feet from the table, a sign that the wind had some strength. I was very surprised to hear that the winds were from the Northeast in Clayton, when the storms came out of the southwest, I am still unsure why the winds were out of this direction.




Image of a tree branch with yard stick for measurement.

I also had this tree branch down when I came home, it measured 1 inch in diameter, and about 6 and a half feet in length. My wind anemometer measured at 30MPH gust on top of the roof. but I was not home to put the field gauge out, which would have been less effected by trees. My family also said we had Extremely heavy downpours, which were so heavy it was hard to see the shed across our yard. My rain gauge said we got 1.19" in about 30 minutes of time. and when I came home after the storms, There were large puddles near the side of the road at the baseball field in Clayton.

3rd Evening wave, effected St Croix, Dunn and southern Barron counties.


The 3rd storm formed in St Croix County well after the 2nd wave was over, This storm produced some large hail, funnel clouds, and severe wind. Funnel Clouds were reported in North of River Falls and Hammond, Trees were reported uprooted in the community of Hersey East of Woodville. also, hail over 1 inch in size was reported near Dallas, and shortly after quarter sized hail was reported in Chetek.

Many people will be spending the rest of the week cleaning up from these storms, but thankfully, there was no widespread significant home damage. Many local forecasters said if the sun would have remained out longer, the severe weather situation would have been far worse.

Damage Reports

1st Morning wave

4 miles E of Grantsburg Trees Down, winds estimated at 60MPH

Webster, Large Oak Tree blown down.

Webb Lake, 10 inch diameter Oak tree blown down

Minong, Widespread Tree Damage with trees snapped or blown over.

Trego, Trees down across Washburn County, especially in Trego area.

Cumberland, 1 inch hail

Cumberland, Tree down blocking both lanes of highway 48

2 miles NE of Hammond, Garage Destroyed and roof taken off house

Rice Lake, Water 1 foot deep and intersections

2nd Afternoon wave

Woodville, Tree Limbs down.

2 miles SW Clayton, a few trees down along Highway 63

Baldwin, 2 semis blown off Interstate 94, also trees down in the area.

Menomonie, Many Trees down in North Menomonie

2 miles SW of Menomonie trees down onto power lines.

Menominie, 59MPH wind gust reported.

Colfax, Large branches down.

Boyceville, Funnel Cloud

Boyceville, Trees Uprooted


3rd Evening wave

2 miles N River Falls, Funnel Cloud

Hammond, Funnel Cloud

Hersey, Trees Uprooted,

1 mile S of Menomonie funnel cloud

3 miles W of Dallas 1.25 inch hail

Chetek 1 inch hail.