Gust front ushers in dramatic change in temperature

MILWAUKEE -- The extreme and record-setting heat that blanketed southeast Wisconsin Monday and Tuesday was broken early Tuesday evening when a gust front blew through. 

Wind gusts in excess of 60 miles an hour dropped temperatures at the FOX6 Studios from a high of 100° to 73° in less than two hours. Similar drops in temperature were seen in other locations.

Kitty Kowalski of Cudahy sent FOX6 News the photos below, showing a tree downed by the wind.

The winds that ushered in that dramatic change in temperature brought some trees down and knocked out power to thousands in southeast Wisconsin. Around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, the We Energies Outage Map showed there were some 12,000+ customers without power in metro Milwaukee. Those outages were caused mostly by power lines blowing down and trees falling on lines. 

As of 6:30 p.m., here are the communities hardest hit:

    By 10:00 p.m., there were 5,000 without power -- 2,000 in Wauwatosa, 900 in Shorewood and 400 in Fox Point.

    The wind took out a big tree branch and power to Ahmed Hill's home near 52nd and Mill Tuesday evening.

    "I could tell, I thought it was going to storm, which I thought was a good thing because we haven't had rain in awhile, but to my surprise, I had a fire truck by my home," Hill said.

    Hill's neighbor, Mark Fossie had to seek out the firefighters' help after smoke was coming from his TV.

    "Firefighters are very helpful, and they turned off everything," Fossie said.

    Fortunately, it was only a minor electric surge, on a day when he and his neighbors saw a wide range of activity from Mother Nature.

    "It's an act of God, what can I say? We're in a drought and now we have finds tearing down trees. Just take it as we can get it I guess," Fossie said.

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