The Oshkosh Derecho - June 11, 2001
In honor of Mother Nature, I have provided many informational links to what went down this day in Oshkosh's history. After such, is my deteriorating memory and other memories from friends who were around Oshkosh that day.
Severe Thunderstorms in East-Central Wisconsin
During the late evening of June 11, 2001, a large thunderstorm complex (which included a bow echo and subsequent "bookend vortex") moved across central and east-central Wisconsin. Winds exceeded 70 mph across the area, resulting in thousands of downed trees and damage to homes and businesses
More...
Storm Surge On Lake Butte Des Morts
The storm passed over several shallow lakes including Lake Butte des Morts near Oshkosh, WI creating a storm surge.
More...
Packerland Weather News
The comma head of the derecho is sometimes associated with hurricane-like conditions. More... (Page 4)
City Of Oshkosh Emergency Government Operations
The Damage Assessment Teams also finished their initial assessment on Tuesday, June 12th, estimating $8 million dollars in structural damage throughout the city
More... (Page 4)
----
My story
My wife and I were in between apartments at the time. The apartment we were moving out of was on Kentucky St, and the apartment we were moving into was on New York St. A few blocks apart. While she was working at the Chalice that evening, our roommate Todd and I got to become one with the storm. Todd and I were at the new apartment on New York St when the storm approached Oshkosh, and from the vantage point this apartment gave us we decided to head over to the Kentucky St apartment for a better and rain free experience. The porch at the Kentucky St apartment faced East and the storm was approaching from the Northwest. Todd drove and parked in front of the house on the street. As the storm got closer the winds and rain were really packing a punch. We wondered if what we heard from the winds was a tornado coming towards us. At that point we both agreed that Todd should move his car from the road into the garage. No more then two minutes after Todd moved his car, the top of a very tall evergreen tree snapped off and landed exactly where Todd's car was parked. It was a hefty chunk of the tree as it was at least 8' long. That was the beginning of the major winds that would cripple Oshkosh soon after. The winds gained strength and it was now impossible to peak around the corner as the rain was horizontal and felt like tiny needles penetrating the skin. These winds lasted for what seemed like forever. During the duration of the winds you could hear/see trees falling and power poll transformers blowing. It was a spectacular site. Once the storm passed we decided to head back to the new apartment and assess damage, however our route there was completely blocked by fallen trees, as was pretty much every street in Oshkosh. We decided to walk. The scene was chaotic with people driving on lawns over fallen power lines. The damage was extensive. Oshkosh suffered many natural and man-made losses.
Alicia Herman
It was a Monday evening... another ordinary summer night at the Chalice. We had the usual crowd for the beginning of the week. As the night went on, the wind picked up and the weather took a turn for the worse. We decided to turn on the radio to see what the "experts" had to say... They had determined tornado-like conditions were on their way. A neighbor came to tell us that there was a BIG storm headed our way. We looked out the window, only to see the traffic light whipping uncontrollably in the wind. It was horizontal. The glasses began to hum and howl... there are no windows to open at the Chalice. The pressure was beginning to build and the glasses had the whistle to prove it. I began to panic. My co-worker told me to relax and stay calm. I had customers to tend to and I wasn't about to jeopardize their safety. I told everyone they had to remain here until the storm passed. I made sure they had their fill of food and drinks as the worst of the storm approached. The wind picked up, trees were bending in ways that I didn't think were possible. It all happened very quickly and before I knew it, there was an eerie calm outside. The neighbor came to let us know that there was a power line down in our parking lot. I welcomed the customers to stay but everyone decided to leave. We did our nightly duties and closed up shop. I quickly got into my car to hurry home to my sweetheart, only to find a downed power line, preventing me from getting home. I parked in the local church parking lot and began to walk home. A neighbor of mine came running out with a flashlight, screaming, "Be careful! There was a line down three feet in front of me. I almost stepped on it... who knows what could have happened. I finally reached the homestead, only to find every light on in the house and candles blazing furiously. I searched and searched for my sweetie, and could not find him anywhere! I assumed the worst... that he had fallen off the roof! I panicked! I cried, I screamed, I blew out candles... I waited and waited... and finally my sweetheart returned. He was at our old house, on the porch, watching lightning strike a tree! The next day was INSANE! 95% of Oshkosh were without power. Except us. We didn't have cable... but the city was a mess. Tree limbs down everywhere! Full trees out, even the roots! People out helping one another clean up what Mother Nature had left us. I worked at the Chalice that day, serving hundreds of people that were without power. It was a long, yet exciting day!
Todd DeMerit (roommate from above story)
Awesome! That was an amazing night. Well, I think we saw some of those pine trees almost bending over and touching the ground, but not breaking....a few garbage cans flew through the yard and somehow the more we tried to drive the 3 blocks to your new place, the farther away we got due to blocked roads. Not sure if you want to mention that you left candles burning at the other apartment and your wife got really mad at you. haha
Ryan Ackerman
I was working at the late Pioneer Inn when it hit and we lost power pretty quick. I got a call on the walkie from the maintenance guy saying that he needed some help by the loading dock. I met him down there and he said that we needed to secure the dumpsters. I was pretty confused because these are your typical, huge, green industrial sized dumpsters you see at restaurants and on construction sites. When I opened the door, all 3 of the dumpsters were basically doing a ballet in our loading area. They were being blown all over the place and were completely full (luckily the lids were closed).
Marie Martin
I was at Peabodys for MarkMartin's birthday. The lights went out, but they served drinks by candlelight.
Aaron McAninch
We almost got trapped in our basement. If we would've went down into the cellar, a gigantic tree limb/stump fell on the access doors from the outside
---
If you're made it this far and you have a memory of that day, please share your story by posting a comment! Happy birthday Mark Martin!!
Severe Thunderstorms in East-Central Wisconsin
During the late evening of June 11, 2001, a large thunderstorm complex (which included a bow echo and subsequent "bookend vortex") moved across central and east-central Wisconsin. Winds exceeded 70 mph across the area, resulting in thousands of downed trees and damage to homes and businesses
More...
Storm Surge On Lake Butte Des Morts
The storm passed over several shallow lakes including Lake Butte des Morts near Oshkosh, WI creating a storm surge.
More...
Packerland Weather News
The comma head of the derecho is sometimes associated with hurricane-like conditions. More... (Page 4)
City Of Oshkosh Emergency Government Operations
The Damage Assessment Teams also finished their initial assessment on Tuesday, June 12th, estimating $8 million dollars in structural damage throughout the city
More... (Page 4)
----
My story
My wife and I were in between apartments at the time. The apartment we were moving out of was on Kentucky St, and the apartment we were moving into was on New York St. A few blocks apart. While she was working at the Chalice that evening, our roommate Todd and I got to become one with the storm. Todd and I were at the new apartment on New York St when the storm approached Oshkosh, and from the vantage point this apartment gave us we decided to head over to the Kentucky St apartment for a better and rain free experience. The porch at the Kentucky St apartment faced East and the storm was approaching from the Northwest. Todd drove and parked in front of the house on the street. As the storm got closer the winds and rain were really packing a punch. We wondered if what we heard from the winds was a tornado coming towards us. At that point we both agreed that Todd should move his car from the road into the garage. No more then two minutes after Todd moved his car, the top of a very tall evergreen tree snapped off and landed exactly where Todd's car was parked. It was a hefty chunk of the tree as it was at least 8' long. That was the beginning of the major winds that would cripple Oshkosh soon after. The winds gained strength and it was now impossible to peak around the corner as the rain was horizontal and felt like tiny needles penetrating the skin. These winds lasted for what seemed like forever. During the duration of the winds you could hear/see trees falling and power poll transformers blowing. It was a spectacular site. Once the storm passed we decided to head back to the new apartment and assess damage, however our route there was completely blocked by fallen trees, as was pretty much every street in Oshkosh. We decided to walk. The scene was chaotic with people driving on lawns over fallen power lines. The damage was extensive. Oshkosh suffered many natural and man-made losses.
Alicia Herman
It was a Monday evening... another ordinary summer night at the Chalice. We had the usual crowd for the beginning of the week. As the night went on, the wind picked up and the weather took a turn for the worse. We decided to turn on the radio to see what the "experts" had to say... They had determined tornado-like conditions were on their way. A neighbor came to tell us that there was a BIG storm headed our way. We looked out the window, only to see the traffic light whipping uncontrollably in the wind. It was horizontal. The glasses began to hum and howl... there are no windows to open at the Chalice. The pressure was beginning to build and the glasses had the whistle to prove it. I began to panic. My co-worker told me to relax and stay calm. I had customers to tend to and I wasn't about to jeopardize their safety. I told everyone they had to remain here until the storm passed. I made sure they had their fill of food and drinks as the worst of the storm approached. The wind picked up, trees were bending in ways that I didn't think were possible. It all happened very quickly and before I knew it, there was an eerie calm outside. The neighbor came to let us know that there was a power line down in our parking lot. I welcomed the customers to stay but everyone decided to leave. We did our nightly duties and closed up shop. I quickly got into my car to hurry home to my sweetheart, only to find a downed power line, preventing me from getting home. I parked in the local church parking lot and began to walk home. A neighbor of mine came running out with a flashlight, screaming, "Be careful! There was a line down three feet in front of me. I almost stepped on it... who knows what could have happened. I finally reached the homestead, only to find every light on in the house and candles blazing furiously. I searched and searched for my sweetie, and could not find him anywhere! I assumed the worst... that he had fallen off the roof! I panicked! I cried, I screamed, I blew out candles... I waited and waited... and finally my sweetheart returned. He was at our old house, on the porch, watching lightning strike a tree! The next day was INSANE! 95% of Oshkosh were without power. Except us. We didn't have cable... but the city was a mess. Tree limbs down everywhere! Full trees out, even the roots! People out helping one another clean up what Mother Nature had left us. I worked at the Chalice that day, serving hundreds of people that were without power. It was a long, yet exciting day!
Todd DeMerit (roommate from above story)
Awesome! That was an amazing night. Well, I think we saw some of those pine trees almost bending over and touching the ground, but not breaking....a few garbage cans flew through the yard and somehow the more we tried to drive the 3 blocks to your new place, the farther away we got due to blocked roads. Not sure if you want to mention that you left candles burning at the other apartment and your wife got really mad at you. haha
Ryan Ackerman
I was working at the late Pioneer Inn when it hit and we lost power pretty quick. I got a call on the walkie from the maintenance guy saying that he needed some help by the loading dock. I met him down there and he said that we needed to secure the dumpsters. I was pretty confused because these are your typical, huge, green industrial sized dumpsters you see at restaurants and on construction sites. When I opened the door, all 3 of the dumpsters were basically doing a ballet in our loading area. They were being blown all over the place and were completely full (luckily the lids were closed).
Marie Martin
I was at Peabodys for MarkMartin's birthday. The lights went out, but they served drinks by candlelight.
Aaron McAninch
We almost got trapped in our basement. If we would've went down into the cellar, a gigantic tree limb/stump fell on the access doors from the outside
---
If you're made it this far and you have a memory of that day, please share your story by posting a comment! Happy birthday Mark Martin!!
I love Derechos, there so awesome, but they cause so much destruction-which is the bad part about these storms. There was a big one that hit the BWCA the weekend of July 4th, oh boy I can't remember the exact year...I wanna say 1998? But not positive about that.. But that thing was a beast. It happened at such an odd time...between 10AM-Noon, usually not a good time for severe weather. Duluth itself was spared the worst of that Derecho as it passed north of the city. But I remeber the sky even here in Duluth looked so weird that Morning.
ReplyDeleteWow that is a pretty cool archive and account of the storm!
ReplyDeleteOSNW3, AMAZING report! I love all the stories you included, the animated radar image, and the picture.
ReplyDeleteWe had a weak tornado in/near the county in Mukwonago recently.
Wow that is an amazing story OSN! I like how you included the radar image.
ReplyDeleteOSN Thankyou for finally sheading some light on my unknown storm! I found out by reading your post that This is the storm that sparked me interested in weather. This storm also produced major damage in my area, I did not know it was such a prolonged event, Here is a link to my post about this same storm I posted back in March http://nwwisconsinweather.blogspot.com/2009/03/little-about-me.html
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate your archival report very much. Following the BWCA storm – July 4, 1999 – I was dispatched with a small team to work with the staff at Superior National Forest on the aftermath of that powerful storm. We spent three weeks in and around the areas of Grand Marias and Ely assessing and developing a recovery and fire prevention plan. We also worked with the local communities on recovery and escape plans.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been around scores of wildland fires and some hurricanes and a few aircraft accidents on these details. The damage caused by Derechos, straight line winds, was simply stunning. We flew over nearly the entire area that was hit in the Forest Service aircraft and the intercom was quite with only a “wow” or “unbelievable” now and then. I contacted the Weather Service office in Duluth and got as much detail as they had and wrote a visitor handout describing just what happened.
The emergency assignment to BWCA is one of the top three I’ve been on – the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 is number one.
Here is an interesting link: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm
Stellar report OSNW3! As usual, you've packed so much information that I'm going to come back and dig deeper into it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting that together for us!
Thanks for reading and commenting gentlemen!
ReplyDeleteTim, it was dark when our Derecho rolled through, unfortunately... so no sky gazing. There have been a few Derecho's this season so far that I can recall. One today/tonight even.
Scout, I read about the dustnado via your blog. Pretty cool stuff...
D, yep, that sounds about right! Must have been a bit frightening only being 9 years old to have witnessed this storm. I recall a severe storm, it could have been a tornado, that rolled through GB when I was about 8 (1984) ... we were huddled up in my mom's duplex and I remember the decoration plates leaning on the wall shaking because of the wind... and then there is the siren that was going off making it feel like a nuclear bomb was about to drop (cold war days)... I was scared and will never forget how scared I was.
Bob, I searched "BWCA storm – July 4, 1999" and what I am finding is astonishing. I can hardly believe what I am seeing from the aerial photos. Like you described "wow". I didn't realize the fire hazard until I read more...
"The storm resulted in fuel loads that were increased from 5 to 20 tons per acre before the storm to 50 to 100 tons per acre after the storm."
That's very significant. I am unaware of any fire ever becoming reality, is this true?
I understand there have been fires in the damged areas of the forest and the BWCA following the big storm. The fuel load is still a real concern for the Forest and they are working to medigate the issue with the resources they have.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting link: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/superior/storm_recovery/
Because we live by the lake, our house lost power prior to the main winds hitting, so my family and I were actually on our way to the basement and saw as each tree in our backyard was just mowed down. I had never seen anything or heard winds rush like that in my life.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the radar pictures -- we were without power for about three days after the storm hit so many of us never really knew what the storm looked like or what exactly had happened. I've never seen such a pronounced bow echo in this area before. I guess that explains a lot of the damage then haha. Thanks again!
Toph, that's amazing! The fact that once the power went out at your place, you were, so to speak, out of the loop of what had happened. I was supposed to be doing some contract work at Shallbetter the following day but when I arrived I saw one employee standing by the door. He said he commutes from Madison and had no idea of the storm the previous night. When Shallbetter, the "manufacturers of Medium Voltage Switchgear solutions for mission-critical power", didn't have power I knew that I had been very fortunate that our power wasn't lost.
ReplyDeleteWhat does your property look like now, years after the storm?
That picture with all of the boats pushed up on shore was my grandparents front yard. What a crazy scenario. The boats and docks from the nearby marina were pushed over to my grandparents yard. Our boat was pushed on top of our dock which was pushed on shore.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I really appreciate you stopping by and telling your story! Absolutely amazing. Do you have other photos you could share?
DeleteI was living on Jackson Street in Oshkosh at the time of this big storm. Just around the corner from us, a huge tree was uprooted and sliced a house in half. Now, I am married with four children who were asking me to tell stories from my past. They asked what was the worst weather I had seen, so I began to tell them about this time, and how after the storm was over, that my curious college mind wanted to explore the city. As driving was totally impossible, I decided to put on my running shoes and hop trees in the street. Looking back it was rather stupid as there were downed power lines everywhere. I simply jumped over them like I was an Olympic athlete. Anyway, thankfully nobody that I knew had been hurt during that awful storm.
ReplyDeleteAiren T.
My family was renting a cottage in SW Michigan when the storm came ripping across the lake. My wife was 7 mos. pregnant with our third child and my 5 and 3 yr old kiddos were sleeping soundly when we were awakened by the wind picking up about 1 a.m. I went outside to bring in all the inflatable beach toys and other outdoor stuff. My wife was kinda freaking. I kept looking out over the lake with each flash of lightning to locate what surely must be a funnel cloud coming across the water. The wind was so crazy strong. Feeling I'd done my duty and after closing all the windows and locking the doors, we climbed back in bed. And then my wife went into labor...
ReplyDeleteWe spent the night in the ER in South Bend, IN while Julie got an IV and meds to stop the labor. My folks watched the older two back at the cottage. We returned at sunrise to a beautiful morning, having had essentially no sleep, to two needy little ones. Lotta trees down... That was one hella storm.
We rented that cottage for the next 18 years and bought one about 4 miles up the lake last fall. I HUGE storm is set to come across the lake in about 4 hours time and I thought of the storm 19 years ago - knew if I googled it, I'd find a few articles and this is just one. Let's hope tonight's storm is nothing like the Derecho of June, 2001!
I was working at Jabronis the night of the Derecho of June, 2001. We knew a storm was coming, but nothing like this. When the big winds hit, our door was sucked open so hard it smashed the front window. I ran to secure it, but the only way would’ve been to lock the door, and we wanted to make sure we could stay open to be a refuge/shelter as needed. I had a few customers, all of whom were busy enjoying their cocktails and watching the storm as if it was a movie. While I was trying to pull the door in, I literally saw, off in the distance, a few people who were obviously trying to find shelter get blown off their feet. I tried to wave to them as I clutched the door, shouting for them to run to me, to safety, but there was no way for them to hear or see me over the raging bass and terror of the storm. The sky was blasted with lighting flash after lighting flash, and suddenly an earth shattering blast hit close enough that I knew clinging to the door wasn’t my best move. I stepped back into the bar completely, and the lights went out. I already had the candles going, but as the night went on, the coolers started to warm up, and the taps stopped working. Of course, this was Jabronis so my people kept right on drinking, end of the world be damned. Hours later, long after the storm had subsided, I started locking up. It was only in that moment of calm did I remember that I had spent 4 hours that afternoon putting together my roommate Jenny’s new patio furniture, which I was pretty sure, I’d never see again. Walking home was something out of an apocalyptic film- the only light was from the sizzle of the many downed power lines, and the streets looked like green and brown jungles of fallen trees. I had to climb carefully over and around repeatedly to navigate the 5 blocks to my front door. When I arrived to find only one window broken and my roomies had candles burning, I was pretty relieved. But the big smile came to me when I peaked into our backyard to see a beautiful new patio set, standing right where I’d left it, as if the storm had somehow skipped over our backyard out of kindness. Working was pretty exciting that memorable
ReplyDeletenight, but I would’ve preferred to have been at Peabodys, wishing Mark Martin a happy birthday.
I am the person that brought the above mentioned candles to Peabody's. Another neighbor and friend parked their car out back to provide more light (headlights) and music. I have so many stories and much of this is very clean in my mind. I digress as do many that there was a tornado inside of this, largely undetectable from the outside in spite of contrary opinions due if nothing else to the movement. A relative encountered it before me who was outside of town on the highway. He described billboards being flattened in sequence as if "stepped on by an invisible giant". He then said his car was spun out and tossed to the side. Later I would be suddenly surprised as most as the power flicked out in town and my then apartment windows blew. Rushing outside with a neighbor I watched the same process there, an "invisible" force moving down Main Street towards us wrecking things on the other side before hitting and tossing both of us into a stairwell. Then it was off to Peabody's of course, I needed to celebrate surviving it.
ReplyDelete