Damage Survey PNS from KMKX

[akr...@iastate.edu]

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Text Permalink: IEM Website (202607081823-KMKX-NOUS43-PNSMKX)

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600 
NOUS43 KMKX 081823
PNSMKX
WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-090630-

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI
123 PM CDT Wed Jul 8 2026

...NWS Damage Survey for 07/03/26 Thunderstorm Wind Event...

.Overview...
A high precipitation (HP) supercell tracked from northern 
Illinois south of Beloit into Walworth, Racine and Kenosha 
counties in the late morning and early afternoon hours on Friday, 
July 3rd. Widespread wind damage occurred from far southeastern 
Rock County where a pair of empty silos were topped. The highest 
winds then developed south of Darien and tracked to the east- 
northeast across much of the southern half of Walworth county. 

Damage south of Darien was consistent with downburst winds as 
a few metal barns/building systems were destroyed and all of the 
debris was found at the bottom of downstream trees. In this area, 
there also were three empty silos that were completely toppled and
fell onto motorcyclists that were taking shelter from the storms.
Five people were injured from the falling concrete silo pieces 
that landed on or near them while some of them sheltered in a car.

The storm then continued east-northeastward and impacted the 
Delavan Lake area, particularly the Channel Drive area and along 
the eastern side of the lake. Widespread tree damage was noted in 
this area, with damage to houses coming from the trees landing on 
them. A high volume of these trees were either snapped at the 
trunk, uprooted or lost a main portion of the branches.

The storm continued its east-northeastward trajectory and 
impacted the Como, Lake Como, Lake Geneva, Geneva Lake and Town of
Geneva areas. Much like in Delavan Lake, there was a high volume 
of tree damage in these areas with any structural damage coming 
from trees falling onto houses or other buildings. On Lake Como, 
the eastern shoreline had the most damage with numerous trees 
falling onto houses and cars. In Lake Geneva, the northwest side 
of the city had the most tree damage, though further south there 
was tree damage noted along the eastern shoreline. On Geneva 
Lake, there was a boat with 10 occupants on it that took on water 
and sunk from the high wind and waves. Three children 
unfortunately drowned from the incident and 7 others were injured 
from being thrown overboard.

The storm continued to the east-northeast and the high winds
continued into the area east of Como to south of Springfield
near the Hawks View Golf Club. Numerous trees again were either 
snapped, uprooted or had a high volume of branch damage.  

Confidence is high that this damage was from a multi-wave 
downburst from the HP supercell. The structures that were hit had 
debris blown downward and not lofted despite being made of sheet 
metal, which is typically easily lofted even in weaker tornadoes. 
The tree damage pattern was very consistent as well with most 
trees blown in a west to east motion with some on the northern 
fringe being blown to the northeast and some on the southern 
fringe being blown to the southeast in a starburst pattern. The 
one area of rotation that prompted the Tornado Warning west of 
Lyons was also investigated but no damage was noted. 

Multiple eye-witness and video accounts of the situation describe
a two to five minute period with three main bursts of a west to 
east wind, each progressively stronger than the previous. This 
longer duration wind burst likely helped increase the wind damage.
Peak winds were estimated at 80-100 mph based on the EF scale 
along the aforementioned path, surrounded by a swath of wind 
estimated 60-80 mph. The size of the 80-100 mph downburst area 
was approximately 2 miles wide and 20 miles long. The full 60 to 
100mph wind swath was approximately 5 miles wide and about 26 
miles long.

The storm did continue into Racine and Kenosha counties where a 
58 mph wind was measured at the Kenosha Airport.  Tree damage 
became more sporadic in these counties. 

.Walworth County Thunderstorm Winds...

Peak Wind Estimate:     100 mph
Path Length /statute/:  26 miles
Path Width /maximum/:   5 miles
Fatalities:             3
Injuries:               12

Start Date:             July 3 2026
Start Time:             11:53 AM CDT
Start Location:         4 SE Clinton / Rock County / WI
Start Lat/Lon:          42.525 / -88.807

End Date:               July 3 2026
End Time:               12:32 PM CDT
End Location:           3 NW Bohners Lake / Walworth County/ WI
End Lat/Lon:            42.649 / -88.331

&&

NOTE:
The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to
change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS
Storm Data.

$$

Halbach