Lightning in Jefferson County, Wisconsin

Lightning struck and killed a boy watching the storms outside. He lived on Ebenezer Road in the Civil Town of Watertown.

This episode was the 2nd round of severe storms over southern Wisconsin on July 7th. A line of storms moved west to east across southern Wisconsin during the evening hours. Powerful thunderstorm downburst winds were generated which knocked down trees and power-lines that left about 23,000 customers without electrical power. Additionally, one isolated tornado spun up on the leading edge of the line of storms in southern Green Lake County, where a microburst pushed ahead and enhanced local vorticiy/rotation in a storm cell. The storms were associated with a short-wave trough at 500 MB moving east through Wisconsin, with a 30 knot low-level jet at 850 MB. Surface temperatures were in the 80s and surface dewpoints werer around 70.