ASHWAUBENON — The National Weather Service has confirmed nine tornadoes, including two in Brown County, touched down Wednesday in the Northeastern Wisconsin, the second most recorded in a single storm event.
The storm toppled trees, knocked down power lines and damaged a few buildings as it cut a large swath over the region in the late afternoon hours.
The weather service sent teams to three areas to examine damage and assess whether it was caused by tornadoes or straight-line winds. It determined most of the storm damage was caused by straight-line winds hitting speeds of up to 70 mph, said meteorologist Scott Berschback.
But nine weak tornadoes traveled with the front edge of the storm and caused damage, too, Berschback said. The first touched down at 1:47 p.m. in the Gresham area of Shawano County. It peaked at 70 mph.
At 3:28 p.m., a stronger one touched down in the Appleton/Kimberly area and traveled nearly six miles in the seven minutes it was on the ground. It uprooted or damaged trees in Kimberly and Little Chute and hit several structures, including two industrial buildings, and tore the roof off a self-serve car wash. That tornado hit peak winds of 95 mph, which, though Wednesday’s strongest, is still weak by tornado standards, Berschback said.
Right about that same time, three other tornadoes hit in Outagamie County. The strongest, with winds of up to 90 mph, struck in Nichols near the Shawano County line. Weaker tornadoes struck Mackville and Bear Creek.
Another with 90 mph winds struck near Nichols again, this time on the Shawano County side of the line a couple minutes later.
A tornado with 90-mph winds hit Pulaski at 3:51 and traveled a 5.8-mile path in eight minutes. It uprooted or damaged several dozen trees, destroyed a barn and damaged two garages.
That one was still on the ground, when another, almost as strong, struck Angelica in Shawano County.
At about that same time, a weaker tornado hit Morrison and traveled a little over a mile, producing just minor tree damage.
“The worst damage was in western Outagamie and southern Shawano counties,” Berschback said. “West of Pulaski, there was good damage, mostly to trees but some structures, mostly buildings like garages.”
They were all weak, small and fairly brief, he said.
The record number of tornadoes in a single storm event in Northeastern Wisconsin is 10, Berschback said.
by Paul Srubas
June 15, 2017
