Thunderstorm Wind — Vilas, Wisconsin

1999-07-30 · near Countywide, Vilas, Wisconsin

Wider weather episode

A mesoscale convective system moved across north-central, central and northeast Wisconsin during the evening of July 30, 1999. Thunderstorm wind gusts over 70 mph (and possibly as high as 100 mph) produced significant damage across the far north-central part of the state. The hardest hit areas were Oneida county and Vilas county, but most of the NWS Green Bay forecast area was affected.In Vilas county, an estimated 100,000 trees were downed by the storm and two people were killed by falling trees in Oneida county. The storm left 50,000 people without electrical service, damaged 150 to 200 homes and blocked all major highways and secondary roads in the northern one-third of Oneida county. The storm left a damage path 15 to 20 miles wide and 40 to 50 miles long across Vilas county. A falling tree damaged a bengal tiger cage at the Warbonnet Zoo in Hazelhurst (Oneida county), allowing 2 tigers to escape for a brief period. Lightning struck a tree and travelled through the ground and into a house in Green Bay (Brown county). The wiring in the house caught fire, filling the house with smoke and causing significant damage to the walls.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.1300, -89.5000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5711202. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.