Savage windstorm followed historic pattern When seasons collide, awesome forces can be unleashed Final Edition

Tuesday's storm, by most any measure, was one for the ages. It was more intense than the November tempest that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 and stronger, even, than all but a few hurricanes in the Atlantic this year, weather experts say. "In the business, we call it a bomb," sai...

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Published inMilwaukee journal sentinel
Main Author TOM VANDEN BROOK, Meg Jones, Jessica McBride and Larry Sandler of the Journal Sentinel staff, and correspondents David Cole, Kathleen Ostrander, Susann Gamble and Joe Costanza contributed to this report
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Milwaukee, Wis Journal Sentinel Inc 12.11.1998
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Summary:Tuesday's storm, by most any measure, was one for the ages. It was more intense than the November tempest that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975 and stronger, even, than all but a few hurricanes in the Atlantic this year, weather experts say. "In the business, we call it a bomb," said Paul Collar, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "This one was really, really intense. Awesome." Hurricane-force winds lashed at power lines and darkened homes and businesses statewide. Wisconsin Electric Power Co. alone reported 90,000 customers lost power in the storm, mostly in southeastern Wisconsin. Wisconsin Electric spokeswoman Margaret Heffernan estimated at 10 p.m. Wednesday that 36,000 customers remained without electricity. It tossed trucks like toys, snarled traffic, peeled back roofs and sheared limbs from trees. It likely was responsible for the deaths of three people, including a 16-year-old Kenosha County boy who was electrocuted when a power pole fell on his car.
ISSN:1082-8850