Thunderstorm Wind — La Crosse, Wisconsin

1998-06-18 · near West Salem, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Event narrative

Circus tent collapsed at fairgrounds. 500 people were in tent. 13 injured.

Wider weather episode

A line of severe thunderstorms accompanied by straight-line winds up to 70 mph caused extensive damage across southwest Wisconsin.A short-lived tornado hit a dairy barn near Retreat (Vernon Co.), killing five cows and injuring one person. The F1 tornado skipped along the ground and stacked trees together after its passage.A second smaller tornado hit Lancaster (Grant Co.) causing damage to several homes and knocking down hundreds of trees in the city.Other notable damage consisted of a roof blown off the elementary school in Cashton (Monroe Co.) and a bowling alley in Westby (Vernon Co.). In West Salem (La Crosse Co.), a large circus tent, with 500 people inside, collapsed during one of the performances. Thirteen people were injured. There were numerous other reports of trees or power lines down.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.9000, -91.0800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5653472. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.