Thunderstorm Wind in Outagamie County, Wisconsin

Thunderstorms developed as a cold front interacted with a moist and very unstable air mass over Wisconsin. Many of the storms became severe, with gusts in excess of 60 mph, as they moved across east central Wisconsin. Downed trees and power lines were widespread. At least 50,000 people on the north side of Oshkosh (Winnebago co.) were without electricity for at least part of the evening. A billboard was destroyed when it was blown onto U.S. Highway 41 near Lake Butte des Morts (Winnebago co.). Heavy damage was reported in the Appleton area (Outagamie co.), where at least one tree landed on a car, flag poles were blown down, roofs were torn from at least three houses under construction, a construction trailer was overturned and a semi was blown over on U.S. Highway 441. Silos, sheds, garages and at least three barns were blown down and power was knocked out in Greenville (Outagamie co.) and Freedom (Outagamie co.). The wind tore away parts of the screen at a drive-in movie theater in Freedom. In Ashwaubenon (Brown co.) a twenty unit garage that was under construction was destroyed, by winds estimated near 80 mph, when it was lifted from its concrete slab and thrown at least 100 feet. A pole building was blown down near Cooperstown (Manitowoc co.) and baseball size hail broke windows near Algoma (Kewaunee co.).A tornado touched down in De Pere (Brown co.) and traveled north into Allouez (Brown co.) where it dissipated just north of Heritage Hill State Park. The tornado's occasional brief touchdowns topped numerous trees. Some of the trees caused damage to buildings and vehicles when they fell, but the tornado caused little direct structural damage to any buildings.