So it is official…the NWS has determined the Wittenberg storm damage to be from straight line winds. Given the damage, the wind was estimated to be up to 90 mph…that is EF 1 strength!
Here is the official NWS damage report.
The damage across northern Marathon County was also determined to be straight line winds…likely a downburst on the north side of Wausau with winds in excess of 80 mph.
Here is the official NWS Marathon County Damage Report
There are isolated spots along this wide swath of damage in which the trees appear to be twisted or snapped off in different directions, but I would say almost 95% of the trees are laying flat to the South East. Again if you have any storm damage which would go against this and support more of tornadic winds, please let us know. You can always email us at weather@waow.com.
There is also a possibility some of the high winds were from ‘gustnadoes’…yep…gustnadoes. A gustnado is a swirl of wind out ahead of the main gust front. This swirl of air is not attached to a cloud based funnel so it’s not a tornado. Yeah I know they almost sound silly or made up, but for much more about gustnadoes check a blog I did in the past.
Gustnadoes would be a good explanation for the isolated twisted trees. This storm had a long history of producing destructive straight line winds, which is a perfect environment for gustnadoes to form.
Meteorologist Brian Niznansky
