Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin · 1979

F1 tornado, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, June 19, 1979

This F1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Chippewa County on June 19, 1979, touching down at 11:50 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
June 19, 1979
Touchdown
11:50 PM CDT (04:50 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Chippewa County
Touchdown point
44.930, -91.380
Record number
377

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), 00:00Z

4.8 hours before the tornado, 175 km from the path. June 20, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1979-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1587 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 927 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1979-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 361 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1587 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1901 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
927 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
361 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
383 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.1
Supercell composite
13.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), 12:00Z

7.2 hours after it, 175 km from the path. June 20, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1979-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -11773, lifted condensation level 1031 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1979-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 362 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11773 J/kg
Surface CAPE
12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1031 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
362 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
465 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1979 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 19, 1979

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 193:20 PM CDTF0Republic, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 193:30 PM CDTF0Fillmore, NE3.010$50 to $500
June 193:55 PM CDTF1Brule, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 194:00 PM CDTF1Charles Mix, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 194:00 PM CDTF1Republic, KS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 194:58 PM CDTF1Yankton, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 195:00 PM CDTF1Butler, KS0.167$5,000 to $50,000
June 195:05 PM CDTF1Antelope, NE0.517$50,000 to $500,000
June 195:05 PM CDTF1Potter, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 195:10 PM CDTF1Minnehaha, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 195:35 PM CDTF1Cuming, NE2.020$50,000 to $500,000
June 196:00 PM CDTF1Minnehaha, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 196:18 PM CDTF2Codington, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 196:33 PM CDTF1Turner, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 196:35 PM CDTF1Turner, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 196:55 PM CDTF1Brown, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 197:00 PM CDTF1LaMoure, ND0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 197:05 PM CDTF1Day, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 197:10 PM CDTF1Roberts, SD0.1101$500,000 to $5 million
June 197:21 PM CDTF1McPherson, SD0.110$500,000 to $5 million
June 197:30 PM CDTF1Barnes, ND0.110$50,000 to $500,000
June 1910:30 PM CDTF0Winneshiek, IA2.030$5,000 to $50,000

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.