High Wind in Wisconsin, April 6, 1997

Name: High Wind in Wisconsin, April 6, 1997
Start: 1997-04-06T08:00
End: 1997-04-06T20:00
Location: Wisconsin

April 6, 1997 · NWS GRB · 22 events in 22 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 22 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $149,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 22

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GRB wrote it up.

A strong cold front ushered in wind gusts over 50 mph across much of northeast Wisconsin. Winds were measured as high as 54 mph in Green Bay (Brown county), 58 mph west of Appleton (Outagamie county) and 63 mph at the Outagamie county airport in Appleton. The Marinette Civic Center recreation dome, worth $100,000, collapsed in Marinette county. Many trees were reported down, signs were blown over and power was lost in several locations across northeast Wisconsin. A few houses sustained damage from fallen trees. One barn was blown over in Outagamie county. A fishing boat was overcome by the high winds and waves on the Wisconsin River 2 miles south of the Du Bay dam in Portage county. A 67 year old male drowned. Two others on the boat survived.The strong winds pushed large chunks of ice, as high as 30 feet, onto the shores of Door county at Shoemaker Point, in the far southwest part of the county. These chunks of ice, known as "ice shoves," were 10 to 13 feet high on parts of Lake Winnebago (Winnebago county, Calumet county), Shawano Lake (Shawano county) and south of Oconto (Oconto county) on Green Bay. Trees, boat docks and boat houses were damaged in some of these locations. Some houses were also threatened by the ice shoves.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

22 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Brown

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Brown forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Coordinates: 44.474, -87.993 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Calumet

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Calumet forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.082, -88.218 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Door

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Door forecast zone
Property damage: $5,000
Coordinates: 44.838, -87.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Florence

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Florence forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.848, -88.398 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Forest

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Forest forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.667, -88.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Kewaunee

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Kewaunee forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.483, -87.514 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Langlade

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Langlade forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.262, -89.072 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Lincoln

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Lincoln forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.338, -89.735 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Manitowoc

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Manitowoc forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Coordinates: 44.091, -87.700 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Marathon

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Marathon forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.898, -89.759 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Marinette

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Marinette forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Coordinates: 45.351, -88.002 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Menominee

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Menominee forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.004, -88.710 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Oconto

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Oconto forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.999, -88.221 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Oneida

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Oneida forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 45.706, -89.522 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Outagamie

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Outagamie forecast zone
Property damage: $12,000
Coordinates: 44.416, -88.465 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Portage

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Portage forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.476, -89.501 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Shawano

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Shawano forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Coordinates: 44.789, -88.765 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Vilas

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Vilas forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 46.053, -89.515 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Waupaca

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Waupaca forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Coordinates: 44.470, -88.965 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Waushara

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Waushara forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.113, -89.243 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Winnebago

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Winnebago forecast zone
Property damage: $2,000
Coordinates: 44.069, -88.645 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Wood

When: April 6, 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Wood forecast zone
Property damage: $1,000
Coordinates: 44.455, -90.042 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
High Wind, Portage	1997-04-06	67	Male	Boat	Direct

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Wisconsin in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history Warnings in Wisconsin, April 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5600414, 5600415, 5600416, 5600417, 5600418, 5600419, 5600420, 5600421, 5600422, 5600423, 5600424, 5600425, 5600426, 5600427, 5600428, 5600429, 5600430, 5600431, 5600432, 5600433, 5600434, 5600435.