Officials say weekend storms could have been worse

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It could have been a lot worse.

That’s what state officials say about the severe thunderstorms that hit Wisconsin over the holiday weekend.

St. Croix County had golf-ball-sized hail. But a half-hour to the west in Hugo, Minn., a tornado killed a two-year-old and damaged more than 200 homes.

Southwest Wisconsin escaped the wrath of the storms while in neighboring Iowa, six people were killed and dozens were injured.

Wisconsin Emergency Management reported only one minor injury from the storms in the Badger State – a sheriff’s deputy who got hurt removing debris from a road.

Bob McMahon of the National Weather Service said there were no reports of tornadoes in Wisconsin, though a funnel cloud was spotted in Taylor County.

Just more than 16,000 people in the state lost their power at some point during the storms.

Monday, Milwaukee had its first 80-degree reading of the year.

Dry and cooler weather is expected today. It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow and Thursday.

Another round of storms is possible on Friday.

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