Wisconsin

Storms in Wisconsin in 1981

130 events in 25 episodes

Every storm the National Weather Service filed in Wisconsin in 1981, with each episode’s narrative and every event in it. Before 1996 the record holds tornadoes, hail and thunderstorm wind only, without narratives; floods, heat, winter storms and the other kinds begin in 1996.

Wisconsin in 1981 on the map

Every episode with a place to put it, colored by kind of event.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over Wisconsin

The year

Events
130
Deaths
3
Injuries
62
Damage
$27 million
Episodes
25

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

By kind of event

Kind of eventEventsDeathsInjuriesDamage
Thunderstorm Wind8100
Hail2700
Tornado22362$27 million

Every episode, month by month

March 1981

April 1981

May 1981

June 1981

July 1981

August 1981

September 1981

October 1981

More

Every year in WisconsinEvery state in 1981Tornadoes in Wisconsin in 198119801982

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24.