Power Outage in Eau Claire, WI

Power lines were blown down in Eau Claire.

Power lines were blown down southwest of Ludington.

A few power lines were blown down in Eau Claire.

Widespread tree and power line damage occurred in the northwest side of Eau Claire. A trained spotter in his truck had severe straight line winds move it approximately four feet. The hardest hit area was around Carson Park and the Lakeview Cemetery where over 2000 soft and hardwood healthy trees were blown down. There were some residential areas that were affected by fallen trees and other debris which damaged their homes and cars. Plus, a 200 foot radio tower was blown down.

A large area of downburst winds, with gusts of 90 mph, occurred north of Osseo, northward along County Road R, then northeast to around Augusta, Wisconsin, and accompanied the two EF-1 tornadoes near Augusta. A farmstead just east of County Road R, and north of Osseo, was heavily damaged. In addition, several outbuildings were damaged, along with numerous power poles and trees snapped from the damaging downburst path that was estimated between 10 to 12 miles long. Some homes had minor damage to shingles.

Scattered power lines and telephone lines felled from 3 miles west of Eau Claire to the northwest portion of town.

Half of a chimney was blown off a house and several trees and power lines were downed in Eau Claire. Trees that were uprooted on Jefferson Street, Farwell Street, Mars Avenue, State Street, West Lexington Street, Skeels Avenue, Agres Street, Powell Drive, Taft Avenue, and Keys Street were between 1 and 2 feet in diameter. Two downed trees damaged cars. One home at the intersection of Powell Drive and Hawkins Avenue had a large branch puncture the roof in several locations. The branch also damaged the living room ceiling. Four miles northeast of Eau Claire on County Road Q trees in excess of 10 inches in diameter were damaged, power lines and street signs were damaged, and a pole shed suffered structural damage. Scattered trees and power lines were also downed elsewhere across the county, including in Augusta. Some downed trees damaged houses and vehicles. In Washington an ice fishing shack was blown into the back of a Sheriff's Department squad car, shattering the car's rear window and denting the truck lid. In rural Fall Creek a Quonset-style barn was thrown into the air and smashed into a silo. On the same property a barn was demolished, two sides of a pole barn were downed, and the roof of a farmhouse was damaged. Total property damage at the rural Fall Creek site was estimated at $22,000.

Several power lines were downed. A 6 inch diameter tree limb fell onto a truck.

Multiple bands of heavy snow. ||A powerful winter storm produced multiple bands of widespread significant snowfall to parts of Western Wisconsin. A Winter Storm Watch was issued on February 19th for the entire County Warning Area to bring attention to the significant system coming a few days later. On February 21st, all counties in Western Wisconsin were upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning for wind gusts of 35-40 mph, and heavy accumulating snow of up to 12-18 inches in some areas. Using the Winter Storm Severity Index, considerable disruptions to daily life were expected. This included avoidance of travel recommendations, and potentially widespread closures to roads and other infrastructure.||Snow began to fall on the afternoon of February 21st and persisted in waves through the afternoon of February 23rd. Wind gust observations did detail some gusts reached the low to mid 30 mph range. The first band of snow was less significant as compared to the next bands of snow. Overall snow accumulations provided by a combination of trained spotters and the CoCoRaHS observers, verified the forecast. Snowfall accumulations ranged from 8-16 inches across the region. ||Some of the highest snowfall totals included:||15.5 inches 13 miles south of Eau Claire WI.|15 inches near Hudson WI.|15.9 inches 9 miles northeast of New Richmond, WI.|14.7 inches near Chippewa Falls WI.|14.0 inches near Chetek WI.

During the early evening of Wednesday, July 28th, scattered thunderstorms developed along a slowly moving frontal boundary across Northern Wisconsin. A very warm layer above the surface kept most of the activity isolated until early evening as thunderstorms developed north of St. Croix Falls to Ladysmith, Wisconsin. These storms continued to build southward, and a few developed over east-central Minnesota near Chisago City before moving into Polk County, Wisconsin. ||During the evening, the storms congealed into a solid line of severe storms as they tracked southward across west central Wisconsin. ||As the storms moved southward, several tight circulations developed, one stronger circulation near New Richmond produced a tornado southeast of town. This tornado damaged about one dozen homes, mostly due to shingles, soffits or siding being torn off. One house, however, had windows blown in and had partial roof damage. It also had a garage that was completely blown apart and destroyed, but the garage had been added on and was not part of the original house itself. Another house had damage to its front porch overhang, which allowed wind to enter the attic and punch a hole through the roof on the backside of the house. At a farm, an old barn collapsed. At another house, part of the roof was blown off a machine shed.||Other storm surveys revealed two areas of significant downburst winds. One was determined that a downburst blew down hundreds of trees along a broad swath from 4 miles SSW of Deer Park, to 9 miles north of Baldwin. The trees were blown down from the north, northeast or east. There was roof damage to one local business. The second area was determined that a downburst hit the west side of Spring Valley. Numerous trees, sheds and power lines were blown down. A school gymnasium roof was damaged and a lot of the debris landed on houses and vehicles. A local resident stated that the severe winds persisted for several minutes.||Outside of these damaged areas, there was minor damage to trees and power lines over Barron, Dunn, Rusk, Chippewa, St. Croix and Pierce counties.

There were multiple waves of precipitation that occurred with this major winter storm that lasted for more than two days.||The first wave of precipitation developed during the morning of Wednesday, April 10th where the initial band moved from southern Minnesota into west central Wisconsin by the afternoon and evening. This band of precipitation had thunder, sleet and heavy snow that produced several inches of snow across portions of west central Wisconsin. Most of the heavier precipitation tapered off, but light snow continued across portions of west central Wisconsin during the afternoon and evening of Thursday, April 11th.||In addition to the precipitation Thursday morning, the next weather element developed. This weather element was a significant increase in the wind speeds, with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph, with gusts of 40 mph or more across a wide area of west central Wisconsin. This created areas of blowing and drifting snow. The strong winds also contributed to damage of power poles. The local electric company indicated 13 power poles were snapped in half near New Richmond, and parts of I-94, west of Eau Claire, was closed due to numerous crashes. ||By Thursday afternoon, most of the heavier precipitation and thunderstorms had moved north and east of the area, with mainly light precipitation in the form of drizzle, light snow or sleet in small areas rotating northward as the main storm started to weaken and move overhead. In addition, wind speeds lessened.||The third wave of precipitation was associated with the main upper level system and changed the precipitation over to all snow by early Friday morning, April 12th. By the afternoon, most of the precipitation had ended, but residual light snow or flurries continued as the main system moved off to the east.||Snowfall totals as the storm ended ranged from 7 to 12 inches from Hudson to River Falls, eastward to Elk Mound, Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire. Lesser amounts were observed from Polk County, eastward to Rusk County. This area received between 2 to 6 inches of snow.

A powerful storm system that brought blizzard conditions to a wide area of southern and central Minnesota, as well as adjacent west central Wisconsin, developed early Saturday morning in the southern Rockies. The storm moved out into the Plains of Kansas Saturday morning, February 23th, and tracked northeast to northern Missouri by the afternoon. The storm kept steady during this time frame, but intensified rapidly during the evening, and overnight period of Saturday and Sunday, February 23rd, and 24th. The storm dropped 20 millibars from Saturday evening, through Sunday morning as it moved from northern Missouri, to the northern Great Lakes. ||Snow began in southern Minnesota Saturday afternoon February 23th, and ended Sunday morning. The heaviest snowfall occurred from Hastings in Minnesota, to River Falls and Rice Lake in west central Wisconsin. These areas received between 6 and 12 inches of snow, with localized areas of 12+ inches. In Eau Claire, this snow storm placed it as the snowiest on record for February, or any month since the record started. ||The snowpack became extremely heavy after this event, and due to the weight of the snow, the Huntsinger Farm, located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin has their 184-foot barn cave in. There was structural damage after the roof caved in, which included several tractors and harvesting equipment.

An outflow boundary from previous morning thunderstorms across central Minnesota Friday morning, June 10th, ignited a broken line of severe thunderstorms in northwest Wisconsin Friday afternoon. These storms sagged southward into west central Wisconsin where several thunderstorms developed near Rice Lake and moved eastward across Rusk County. ||More thunderstorms quickly developed in southeast Minnesota and west central Wisconsin, from Red Wing to Dunn County near Menomonie. These storms quickly became severe which blew down numerous trees and power lines, and also affected the Blue Ox Festival where trees fell on cars and camper trailers in Eau Claire.

A significant bow echo moved across Minnesota and then into west central Wisconsin during the early morning hours of Saturday, July 18th. These storms moved rapidly eastward, with numerous reports of downed trees and power lines. A few intense bow echo segments produced damage to sheds and outbuildings. One of the stronger storms produced an EF-1 tornado near Eau Galle.

Severe thunderstorms that moved across central Minnesota and portions of east central Minnesota, moved rapidly across west central Wisconsin. Although there were several reports of large trees blown down and power outages from downed power lines, the worst part of the storm occurred near Stanley were some structural damage to houses occurred and power outages lasted for several hours.

A very powerful low pressure system trekked from southeast Kansas to northeast Wisconsin on February 20th. As the storm system deepened, it produced a shield of heavy snow and embedded thunderstorms on its northwestern flank, which produced snow rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour at times. A rain/snow mix began across much of the area during the morning of the 20th as temperatures hovered in the middle 30s, but precipitation quickly transitioned to heavy snow by early afternoon. The snow continued through the early morning hours of the 21st before tapering off. ||As the low tracked through Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, northwest winds increased to between 20 and 30 mph, with gusts to between 40 and 50 mph.||Authorities reported a partial roof collapse and gas leak at the Kmart in Eau Claire. Officials believe the weight of snow on the flat roof was the cause of the collapse.||During the height of the storm, Xcel Energy reported that a total of 13,000 customers in northern and western Wisconsin experienced power outages.

Thunderstorms began to develop across south central Minnesota during the afternoon of Sunday, May 19th. These storms started to accelerate northward near Owatonna, southeast to Blooming Prairie where the first report of damage was reported northwest of the town. As these storms started to accelerate to the north-northeast, several bow-echo type thunderstorm structures moved across east central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin during the early evening. Reports of 60 mph winds, trees blown down, damaged barns and power outages occurred from two lines of storms.

A very unusual snow event unfolded across portions of south central and east central Minnesota, as well as west central Wisconsin on the evening of Wednesday, May 1st. Snowfall amounts topped over a foot of snow, with locally 12 to 15 inches in a small band near River Falls, Baldwin, Rice Lake and Ladysmith, Wisconsin, by the time the snow tapered off early Thursday afternoon, May 2nd. ||This system was highly unusual due to the fact that May snowfall amounts average less than an inch. A strong Canadian air mass for early May allowed for critical temperatures to lower enough to produce snow across south central and east central Minnesota during the late afternoon and early evening of Wednesday May 1st. Areas around Chippewa Falls, and Eau Clairie, Wisconsin, were warmer initially, which kept this area in a mixture of sleet and rain, before changing over to all snow by Thursday morning, May 2nd. ||A strong surge of moisture from the gulf interacted with the cold air mass to produce very heavy snowfall from Wednesday evening, through Thursday morning, before tapering off after 12 pm. Snowfall rates were as high as 1-2 inches per hour during the height of the storm. The following are some of the higher snowfall totals, ending Thursday afternoon, May 2nd. ||Near Ladysmith 15.0 inches|Rice Lake 14.0 inches. |Weyerhaeuser 14.0 inches. |River Falls 13.0 inches. |Baldwin 12.0 inches. |Jim Falls 11.4 inches. |Durand 10.5 inches. ||Both Ladysmith, and River Falls, broke the 24 hour, calendar day state record of 12.0 inches for the most snowfall in May. Both these sites beat the previous Wisconsin state daily record in May of 10.9 inches. ||Due to the heavy snowfall and high liquid water content, large tree branches broke off and caused damage to power lines, along with numerous power outages. ||Highland Ridge Campground at the Eau Galle Dam and Recreation Site, located in Spring Valley, Wisconsin, had excessive storm damage due to the extremely wet, and heavy snowfall.

Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed along a slowly moving cold front across west central Wisconsin. During the afternoon, a line of strong storms developed in southeast Minnesota, and raced northeast across west central Wisconsin, and caused several areas of downed power lines, many trees, and a radio tower near Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

A powerful storm system developed across the central Plains late Monday evening, and moved northeast across the Midwest and slowed down. ||Copious amounts of moisture moved northward across Minnesota and developed a band of heavy rainfall and scattered thunderstorms the morning of Tuesday March 22nd. Some of the rainfall began to mix with sleet by the afternoon across portions of west central Wisconsin. The mixture of sleet, snow and patches of freezing rain, switched over to all snow by Tuesday evening, and became heavy at times during the night. Some areas had winds around 35 mph.||Portions of west central Wisconsin, from Osceola to Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, and Ladysmith, received locally 6 to 11 inches of snow before it tapered off Wednesday morning.

A powerful winter storm developed across the central plains Tuesday afternoon, and quickly intensified as it moved across the southern Great Lakes by Wednesday morning. ||A broad area of light snow developed across southern Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon, but heavier snowfall develop during the evening and overnight hours as the storm intensified. Several locations in west central Wisconsin reported nearly a foot of snow by Wednesday morning, with the heaviest report in Eau Claire, Wisconsin at 13.1 inches. Stanley, Baldwin, and Augusta all reported a foot of snow as the storm departed Wednesday evening. ||In addition to the heavy snowfall reports, strong winds developed and caused near blizzard conditions for a large area of west central Wisconsin. Frequent gusts of 25 to 35 mph were reported during the height of the storm.

A vigorous low pressure system over South Dakota moved into western Minnesota late on the 18th. This system brought windy conditions to west central Wisconsin during the afternoon. Several jurisdictions reported downed trees and power lines. A handful of structures were also damaged, including hangars at New Richmond Regional Airport. In Eau Claire County, a 73-year-old man struck a tree with his car after it was blown onto the highway by high winds. Wind gusts as strong as 68 MPH were recorded less than an hour before a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the region.

Low pressure tracked from eastern Kansas into southern Wisconsin on the morning of the 5th. This storm dropped wet heavy snow across west central Wisconsin between midnight and 10 AM. The heavy snowfall was responsible for downing scattered trees and power lines which resulted in power outages in some locations. Snowfall totals ranged from 5 to 10 inches. The highest totals included 10 inches in Menomonie and just east of Sheldon, 9 inches in Turtle Lake and Stanley, and 8 inches in Haugen, Chippewa Falls, and Durand.

Low pressure over Nebraska moved across central Wisconsin during the morning of the 1st bringing a few inches of snowfall accumulation. A second, more powerful storm tracked from Missouri into Illinois early on the 2nd. The second storm dropped moderate to heavy snow across west central Wisconsin between the evening of the 1st and the evening of the 2nd. Snowfall totals from both storms ranged from 9 to 13 inches, with the highest amounts falling in Barron and Rusk counties. Behind the second system, temperatures plummeted into the single digits and teens below zero. Wind chills dropped into the 30s below zero on the morning of the 3rd.

A powerful storm system in western Missouri tracked north into Iowa by late in the evening on the 29th. It then headed east into central Illinois by late afternoon on the 30th. A widespread area of freezing rain, sleet and or snow fell across all of West central Wisconsin. Total ice accumulations ranged from approximately one quarter of an inch to almost three quarters of an inch (northeastern Pierce county). Numerous tree limbs, and power lines damaged or down due to ice accumulation across the region.