Thunderstorm Wind in Menominee (c) County, Wisconsin

Thunderstorms moved through Wisconsin in very warm and unstable air ahead of a cold front. Severe thunderstorm winds and tornadoes downed trees and power lines and damaged buildings across a large swath of central, north central and east central Wisconsin. Thousands of trees and power lines were downed by high winds from the storms. An 11 year old Boy Scout was killed and another was seriously injured when trees landed on their tent at Camp Napowan (Waushara co.).High winds pushed a house off its foundation and blew a boat and trailer into a neighbor's yard near Merrill (Lincoln co.). Some downed trees damaged or destroyed buildings or vehicles when they fell. A church steeple was toppled by high winds and a tree landed on an SUV, boat and trailer in Neenah (Winnebago co.) According to utility company news releases, nearly 20,000 customers were without power at some time during the storms. As of noon the next day there were still about 3,250 customers in the Green Bay (Brown co.) area without electricity.The hardest hit areas appeared to be in Marathon, Lincoln, Shawano and Oconto counties. Three of the four confirmed tornadoes touched down in Lincoln county and the other touched down in Marathon county. A tornado that touched down 5 miles north of Merrill (Lincoln co.) skipped along the ground for 9 miles, destroying a barn and another structure, tearing roofs from some buildings and moving others from their foundations. Another tornado briefly touched down about 8.5 miles northeast of Merrill demolishing a mobile home and snapping trees and tree limbs. The other Lincoln county tornado touched down 10 miles northwest of Merrill and skipped along the ground for 1.25 miles. A tornado skipped along the ground for 2 miles in Mosinee (Marathon co.) causing significant tree damage on a hill east of the Wisconsin River.