Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin

1985 tornadoes in Wisconsin

15 tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin in 1985, 29 percent below the average of the record for the state. They killed 4 people and injured 79.

1984 1986 The whole country in 1985

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1985

May 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 11	12:10 AM CDT	F1	Green Lake	2.0	200		1	$500,000 to $5 million
May 11	12:36 AM CDT	F1	Fond du Lac	0.1	50			$50,000 to $500,000

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	6:45 PM CDT	F0	Racine	0.3	30			$500 to $5,000

May 30 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	11:50 PM CDT	F2	Grant	16.0	500	$50,000 to $500,000
May 30	12:20 AM CDT	F2	Dane	21.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000
May 30	12:30 AM CDT	F1	Barron	11.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000

June 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	7:15 PM CDT	F3	Price	68.0	2,640	2	42	$5 million to $50 million
June 8	9:00 PM CDT	F2	Door	5.0	150			$500,000 to $5 million

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	7:55 PM CDT	F1	Washburn	5.0	100			$50 to $500

July 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	6:03 PM CDT	F0	Waushara	5.0	50			$5,000 to $50,000

August 12 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 12	6:55 PM CDT	F1	Clark	1.2	150
August 12	7:13 PM CDT	F2	Wood	10.0	880		14	$5 million to $50 million
August 12	7:35 PM CDT	F2	Juneau	22.0	880	2	22	$500,000 to $5 million
August 12	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Waushara	0.5	100			$50,000 to $500,000

August 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 17	7:26 PM CDT	F1	Waukesha	15.0	50			$50,000 to $500,000

Crossed into Wisconsin

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Wisconsin. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 30	10:22 PM CDT	F3	Clayton, IA to WI	34.0	1,500	2	27	$5 million to $50 million

Nearby

Every tornado in Wisconsin since 1950 Warnings in force in Wisconsin The 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.