Lightning Strikes in Wisconsin, April 3, 1999

A nearly stationary front across Wisconsin and an upper atmospheric system combined with unstable air, resulting in an area of showers and thunderstorms that moved across the state on the morning of April 3rd. In Boulder Junction, Vilas county, lightning struck a 125 foot pine tree causing its trunk to explode. The lightning created a track several inches deep as it traveled through the ground to an attached garage. When it reached the garage it blew the phone and power line connections off the wall and started the electrical wiring on fire in the garage attic. The phone and electrical wiring in the house were so charged they scorched the walls around them. Natural gas lines leading to the house were destroyed. In Kimberly, Outagamie county, a man was cut by glass shards and wood splinters when lightning blew apart a tree next to the house in which he was sleeping.