Tens of thousands of trees were broken, uprooted or downed across several counties, with Polk and Barron Counties being hit the hardest. Many outbuildings were destroyed by wind, along with roofs off barns and sheds. The vast majority of damage was due to a derecho that started over east central Minnesota, and progressed southeast across Wisconsin, and into lower parts of Michigan. The path length was nearly 490 miles long. Three tornadoes also produced damage, but areal extent of the tornadoes paled in comparison to the damage caused by the downbursts.
During the late morning, and early afternoon of Friday, July 19th, a surface low moved from northeast South Dakota, eastward across central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin by the evening. There was a tight thermal gradient along the surface low/warm front across central Minnesota. During the afternoon, dew points rose to near 80 in the warm sector, with 50s/60s north of the front. This contrast produced MLCAPEs of near 5000 J/kg south of the front boundary. Effective wind shear parameters were very strong with values of 50-70 knots across central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin by the late afternoon. This environment allowed for supercells to form which congealed into a bow echo that raced across east central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin. Very large hail, damaging straight-line winds, and a few tornadoes occurred with this large bow echo.
Based on a collection of video, pictures, and collaboration of local law enforcement offices, and emergency managers, there were thousands of trees uprooted or blown down in a swath that went from Polk County, southeast across Barron, Dunn, Chippewa and parts of Rusk Counties. Embedded in the straight-line wind damage, a few tornadoes occurred.
The first tornado occurred east of Balsam Lake, and tracked east to north of Turtle Lake where it crossed into Barron County. The tornado continued into Barron County before dissipating east of Turtle Lake. This tornado was rated EF1 that was on the ground for nearly 14 miles. A weaker tornado occurred east of Fox Creek and was only on the ground for a minute with a path length of around 1 mile.
The county of Chippewa indicated that most of the damage was from the Village of New Auburn in the northwest to Otter Lake in the east.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 15:55:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:14:00 (CST-6)
Location: ATLAS
Magnitude: 73.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Amateur Radio

The intense bow echo entered Polk County in the far northwest corner. It moved southeast and caused significant damage to trees and power lines along its path. A trained spotter measured a wind gust of 73 knots in Cushing. This individual also measured sustained winds of nearly 70 mph for 5 minutes.

Tornado in POLK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:28:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:29:00 (CST-6)
Location: RANGE
Tornado F-scale: EF0
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

Dozens of trees knocked down, including some on houses, sheds and vehicles. A roof was partially off a machine shed. An aerial photo shows the latter portion of the path was through a corn field.

Tornado in BARRON, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:42:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:48:00 (CST-6)
Location: TURTLE LAKE
Tornado F-scale: EF1
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This tornado started in Polk County and ended in Barron County. It knocked down hundreds of trees in Barron County, some of which fell on houses, garages,  outbuildings and vehicles. The tornado was surrounded by a massive area of severe downburst winds that downed thousands of trees.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:14:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:22:00 (CST-6)
Location: CUSHING
Magnitude: 80.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

The bow echo continued southeast across Polk County where thousands of large trees were broken, uprooted or blown down. Many trees landed on houses, sheds, outbuildings, and vehicles. Many outbuildings were destroyed by wind, along with roofs off barns and sheds. The swath of wind damage was nearly ten miles wide, and some areas had entire sections of forest leveled.

Thunderstorm Wind in POLK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:22:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: MILLTOWN
Magnitude: 80.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

Thousands of large trees were broken, uprooted or blown down. Some were two feet in diameter. Many trees landed on houses, sheds, outbuildings, and vehicles. Many outbuildings were destroyed by wind, along with roofs off barns and sheds. The swath of wind damage was nearly ten miles wide, and some areas had entire sections of forest leveled.

Tornado in POLK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:28:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:42:00 (CST-6)
Location: BALSAM LAKE
Tornado F-scale: EF1
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

This tornado started in Polk County and dissipated in Barron County. A damage survey and aerial photos showed many hundreds of trees down from the tornado, which was surrounded by a massive area of severe downburst winds that downed thousands of trees. The tornado itself knocked down sheds, took roofs off barns and    outbuildings, and snapped or knocked down trees, some of which landed on houses and vehicles.

Thunderstorm Wind in CHIPPEWA, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 17:20:00 to 19-JUL-19 17:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: NEW AUBURN
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

This is the continuation of the blow down, straight-line wind event that moved across parts Chippewa County from New Auburn, to east of Bloomer. Numerous large trees were uprooted or blown down along this path.

Thunderstorm Wind in BARRON, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:45:00 to 19-JUL-19 17:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: TURTLE LAKE
Magnitude: 80.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

There were thousands of trees broken, blown down or uprooted in a swath that was about eight miles wide, with the north/south extent from northwest of Comstock to  Turtle Lake. The swath extended to the east-southeast to the southwest side of the city of Barron.  Many trees landed on sheds, vehicles and outbuildings. Many outbuildings were destroyed by wind, along with roofs off barns and sheds.

Thunderstorm Wind in DUNN, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 17:05:00 to 19-JUL-19 17:20:00 (CST-6)
Location: SAND CREEK
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Amateur Radio

This is the continuation of the blow down, straight-line wind event that moved across parts of northern Dunn County, between Ridgeland, and Sand Creek. There were numerous reports of blown down trees and power lines.

Thunderstorm Wind in RUSK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 16:35:00 to 19-JUL-19 16:45:00 (CST-6)
Location: HAWKINS
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

A NWS Storm Survey indicated that straight-line winds, up to 80 mph, occurred in a small part of far northeast Rusk County. Based on the survey, the damage path that occurred in Sawyer County, continued along the path into far northeast Rusk County. There were reports of numerous large trees blown down across this area.

Thunderstorm Wind in CHIPPEWA, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 17:35:00 to 19-JUL-19 18:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: EAGLETON
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

The local emergency manager, and several other county officials indicated that the path of blown down trees continued across portions of northern, and central Chippewa County between Bloomer, and Otter Lake in the east.

Thunderstorm Wind in RUSK, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 17:25:00 to 19-JUL-19 17:35:00 (CST-6)
Location: WEYERHAEUSER
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Hundreds of trees were downed in a swath that was several miles wide across Rusk Township in the southwest corner of Rusk County. Some power lines were also downed, but no property damage was reported.

Thunderstorm Wind in BARRON, WISCONSIN
From 19-JUL-19 17:00:00 to 19-JUL-19 17:25:00 (CST-6)
Location: BARRON
Magnitude: 70.00 EG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Emergency Manager

This is the continuation of the damage path of 70-80 mph straight-line winds or microbursts. The path was about ten miles wide. Several thousand trees were blown down, some on power lines, houses, vehicles, sheds and outbuildings, causing considerable damage in the eastern part of Barron County.