June 11, 2026 10p; Updated 6-12 7:30a
(WGTD)---No injuries were reported as a strong thunderstorms and possibly a tornado swept through the tri-county area Thursday evening. But the strong winds did plenty of damage.
Utility poles, wires, trees and branches all came down, some crashing into structures or blocking roads. The hardest-hit areas appeared to be Kenosha's north side, Somers, Paris and Union Grove.
STH 45 was closed Friday morning from 142 to the Racine/Kenosha county line. 142 itself was closed between CTH MB-South and CTH MB-North. All due to downed utility poles and lines.
In the City of Kenosha, over 7,000 remained without power. A wide area of the city's north side, including Gateway Technical College, was out. WGTD was off the air until early Friday morning. Altogether in Kenosha County, over 22,000 customers were affected in the immediate aftermath.
Racine County reported over 8,600 outages, with half coming in Union Grove.
A tornado warning was issued for the central and eastern parts of Kenosha and Racine counties after rotation was detected within a strong thunderstorm. A Tornado Watch had been posted earlier in the day.
National Weather Service forecaster Mark Gehring said he's "fairly confident" that evidence of a weak tornado will be found on Friday when NWS personnel visit and survey areas from Highways 142 and 45 in Kenosha County northeast to Sturtevant in Racine County.
Social media sites were filled with dramatic photos Thursday evening of ominous-looking wall clouds and funnel-shaped formations.
Quiet weather is forecast for Friday, with a possible return of showers and thunderstorms for Saturday afternoon and evening. But they're not expected to rise to the 'severe' level.
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