“Plenty of other areas had damaging winds,” Gehring said. “There’s plenty of damage out there.”
The National Weather Service placed nearly the entire state of Wisconsin under a severe thunderstorm watch until 2 a.m. Thursday.
Tree damage from Wednesday night’s storm on Madison’s West Side.
Dane County Sheriff Sgt. Pat Schellenberger said it was a “pretty routine” storm night for deputies responding to safety hazards. At least a dozen or so trees fell onto county roadways, he said. The Sheriff’s Office hadn’t responded to any property damage reports as of 6:45 a.m., Schellenberger said.
A 70 mph wind gust was reported at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday in Merrill in Lincoln County, according to the weather service. Numerous trees and power lines were reported down in Merrill.
A 78 mph wind gust was reported at Weston in Marathon County at 9 p.m., according to the weather service.
Gehring said a cold front is pushing through Wisconsin today that should bring lower temperatures and humidity Friday. The next chance of storms is Saturday afternoon.
Camping through the storm
Visitors to the city, who pitched tents and parked RVs outside of the Alliant Center for the CrossFit Games, were evacuated into the coliseum before the storm hit.
Sean Bradley, a spectator of the games from Philadelphia, said event staff began to evacuate the campsite at around 5 p.m. Wednesday and instructed campers to take down their tents to avoid adding to possible debris cause by the storm.
