Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin

1969 tornadoes in Wisconsin

27 tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin in 1969, 29 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1968 1970 The whole country in 1969

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Wisconsin in 1969

May 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 288:30 PM GMT-5F1Price2.0100$500 to $5,000

May 31 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 312:00 PM GMT-5F1Grant16.050$500 to $5,000
May 313:00 PM GMT-5F0Dane1.050$500 to $5,000
May 314:30 PM GMT-5F1Washington1.950$5,000 to $50,000

June 4 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 42:00 PM GMT-5F2Grant4.1200$50,000 to $500,000
June 42:45 PM GMT-5F2Grant24.4200$50,000 to $500,000
June 45:00 PM GMT-5F2Dane4.9300$5,000 to $50,000

June 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 55:10 PM GMT-5F1Washburn8.3100$5,000 to $50,000

June 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 121:05 AM GMT-5F2Green0.350$50,000 to $500,000

June 26 8 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2610:00 AM GMT-5F2Grant2.01002$5,000 to $50,000
June 2610:20 AM GMT-5F1Sauk0.1100$5,000 to $50,000
June 2611:00 AM GMT-5F1Sauk1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 2612:15 PM GMT-5F3Outagamie15.31001$500,000 to $5 million
June 265:15 PM GMT-5F2Jackson47.51002$500,000 to $5 million
June 265:30 PM GMT-5F1Price33.2101$50,000 to $500,000
June 266:00 PM GMT-5F2Vilas28.910$50,000 to $500,000
June 266:20 PM GMT-5F1Rock0.5100$50,000 to $500,000

June 29 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 295:30 PM GMT-5F1Grant1.0100$5,000 to $50,000
June 297:00 PM GMT-5F2Lafayette10.4200$50,000 to $500,000
June 298:00 PM GMT-5F2Waukesha13.1100$50,000 to $500,000
June 299:30 PM GMT-5F2Iowa3.8100$50,000 to $500,000

July 2 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 25:00 PM GMT-5F0Waupaca4.3100$5,000 to $50,000
July 25:20 PM GMT-5F1Kewaunee6.9100$5,000 to $50,000

July 15 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 1511:55 AM GMT-5F1Barron6.1504$5,000 to $50,000
July 159:15 PM GMT-5F0Pierce1.050$500 to $5,000

July 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 269:00 PM GMT-5F1Polk4.750$5,000 to $50,000

August 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 113:50 PM GMT-5F1Milwaukee0.3100153$50,000 to $500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in WisconsinThe live radar over Wisconsin

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.