A large area of significant damaging thunderstorm winds swept across northwestern Wisconsin. The damage path was from southeast of Minong in northeast Washburn County through Nelson Lake of northwest Sawyer County then near Cable through Drummond to Ashland.
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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.
The episode as NWS DLH wrote it up.
A large area of significant damaging thunderstorm winds swept across northwestern Wisconsin. The damage path was from southeast of Minong in northeast Washburn County through Nelson Lake of northwest Sawyer County then near Cable through Drummond to Ashland. Heavy damage in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest forced the closure of campgrounds and bike trails.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 1:51 PM CST, 9 hours 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 251 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2005 .DISCUSSION...FORECAST CONCERNS ARE ON PCPN TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. 18Z MSAS SFC PRESSURE PLOT FEATURED A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT SNAKING ITS WAY THROUGH THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE FA. FIRST BATCH OF TSRA DEPARTING THE MN ARROWHEAD ATTM. HOWEVER...SHRA CONTINUE TO DEVELOP/SPREAD INTO THE SOUTHERN HALF. THIS PCPN IS STICKING CLOSE TO THE FRONT AND AIDED BY UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE LIFTING NE ACROSS MN. THE FRONT WILL CRAWL INTO NW WI BY 12Z TUESDAY WITH PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE PCPN CONTINUING TO BE ALONG THE FRONT. SOME PCPN WILL ALSO OCCUR BEHIND THE FRONT IN AREA OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND EMBEDDED SHORT WAVE ENERGY IN SW FLOW ALOFT. TIMING WILL BE DIFFICULT AND HAVE ATTEMPTED TO GIVE SOME RESOLUTION. NEXT PIECE OF SHORT WAVE ENERGY IMPACTS THE FA ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON. NOT AS MUCH MOISTURE TO WORK WITH THIS TIME...BUT TSRA POSSIBLE IN EASTERN PORTION OF WI FA NEAR AXIS OF INSTABILITY/PROXIMITY OF FRONTAL BOUNDARY. ONLY EXPECT SHRA ELSEWHERE. PCPN DIMINISHES TUESDAY EVENING AS FRONTAL BOUNDARY DEPARTS AND SFC HIGH BUILDS IN AND LASTS THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. PCPN RETURNS TO THE WESTERN PORTION OF THE FA LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS NEXT UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE APPROACHES THE FA. THIS SHORT WAVE WILL HELP PUSH A SFC WARM FRONT THROUGH THE FA AND SHOULD GENERATE SOME TSRA ON THURSDAY. && .AVIATION...A COLD FRONT SLOWLY TRACKING EAST ACROSS THE UPPER MIDWEST WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT...MAINLY EAST OF A LINE FROM BRD TO HIB TO ELO. MVFR-IFR CIGS AND VSBYS WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THESE STORMS...ALONG WITH STRONGER AND VARIABLE WINDS. BECAUSE OF THE INCREASED SURFACE MOISTURE...AREAS OF FOG ARE ALSO EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS MUCH OF THE UPPER MIDWEST TONIGHT...AGAIN WITH MVFR-IFR CONDITIONS. AS THE FRONT AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVES OFF TO THE EAST...CIGS AND VSBYS WILL IMPROVE ACROSS THE AREA TUESDAY MORNING...WITH WINDS TURNING OUT OF THE WEST AND STRENGTHENING DURING THE DAY TUESDAY. && .DLH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MN...NONE. WI...NONE. GSF/BERDES
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN 700 AM CDT MON SEP 12 2005 MNZ010>012-018>021-025-026-033>038-WIZ001>004-006>009-131230- KOOCHICHING-NORTHERN ST. LOUIS-NORTHERN COOK/NORTHERN LAKE- NORTHERN ITASCA-CENTRAL ST. LOUIS-SOUTHERN LAKE/LAKESHORE- SOUTHERN COOK/LAKESHORE-NORTHERN CASS-SOUTHERN ITASCA- SOUTHERN CASS-CROW WING-NORTHERN AITKIN-SOUTHERN AITKIN- CARLTON/SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS-PINE-DOUGLAS-BAYFIELD-ASHLAND-IRON- BURNETT-WASHBURN-SAWYER-PRICE- 700 AM CDT MON SEP 12 2005 ...SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA AND NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL OVERSPREAD THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE STORMS WILL ACCOMPANY A FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVING SLOWLY FROM WEST TO EAST. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. THE PRIMARY HAZARDS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO LIKELY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY...INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING. MORE STORMS ARE FORECAST FOR THURSDAY AND SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED BY THIS AFTERNOON. 04
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous trees were blown down across the Bass Lake and Stanberry townships.
Numerous trees and power lines down from just north of Hayward across Nelson Lake to the Bayfield county line.
Straight-line winds knocked down trees and power lines from the Sawyer County line through Cable, Drummond, and Mason to the Ashland County line. There was also minor structural damage.
Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in the Ashland area. There was also minor structural damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wisconsin in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Wisconsin, September 2005
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: 5474669, 5474670, 5474671, 5474672.