F2 tornado, Merrill to Ringle, Wisconsin, July 16, 1997

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F2

Date

July 16, 1997

Touchdown

3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)

Path length

3.4 miles (5.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.5 million

Counties

Lincoln and Marathon counties

Touchdown point

45.120, -89.470

Lift-off point

45.070, -89.400

Record number

879

Severe thunderstorms affected much of northern, central and east-central Wisconsin during the afternoon and evening of July 16 with tornadoes, downburst winds and large hail. Millions of dollars in damage resulted from the biggest severe weather outbreak to affect the region in years.The storms began to develop early in the afternoon across north-central Wisconsin. Hail the size of baseballs fell in Minocqua (Oneida co.), damaging nearly 200 vehicles. As those storms moved southeast and weakened, a new supercell thunderstorm developed over Lincoln county. This new storm produced wind damage in Tomahawk and softball size hail northeast of Merrill. About 20 minutes later, a tornado developed in southeast Lincoln county and moved southeastward into Marathon county. This tornado, rated F2, was on the ground for more than three miles. It damaged several homes, vehicles and silos, and destroyed numerous barns, sheds and crops. Twenty head of dairy cattle were killed or had to be destroyed. As the tornadic supercell moved southeast, it produced two other weak tornadoes. Total damage to crops and property from five tornadoes, hail and straight-line winds in Marathon county alone topped $10 million.Another supercell thunderstorm produced a downburst swath of damage over three miles wide and 14 miles long from southeast Langlade county, through western Menominee county, into extreme north-central Shawano county. Menominee county was especially hard hit, as tens of thousands of trees were felled in the heavily forested county. Authorities estimated that nearly 25 million board feet of lumber was on the ground; it was hoped that much of it was going to be salvaged. At the height of the storm, winds were estimated to be near 100 mph. As the storm weakened and moved into north-central Shawano county, a 70 mph wind gust was measured near Morgan. Another storm in western Shawano county produced a downburst which downed trees across the city of Wittenberg. Part of a roof was blown off an apartment building in the downtown area, and several houses and businesses sustained damage from the fallen trees. A Wittenberg man was injured by flying glass. Lightning set a house on fire, destroying the second story, in the township of Germania.Another storm struck Waupaca county, producing high winds. A power pole fell and hit a car in New London, injuring the driver.Shortly after 530 pm, a supercell thunderstorm produced numerous wind gusts over 65 mph across the Fox Valley, blowing over many trees, damaging buildings and causing a fatality. A 36 year-old male was killed when a tree fell on his minivan in Oshkosh (Winnebago co.). His young daughter was uninjured in the accident. A wind gust to 82 mph was measured in Appleton (Outagamie co.), and a gust to 67 mph was recorded in Oshkosh.Thunderstorms over Waushara county produced flooding rains, a brief tornado, strong winds and hail. Over five inches of rain fell in only three hours near Hancock, producing some basement and street flooding. A brief tornado also touched down in an open field in Hancock. Numerous trees and powerlines were blown down in Wautoma.A thunderstorm knocked trees and power lines down in Kiel (Calumet/Manitowoc co.), and damaged seven tents at a fair in Cleveland (Manitowoc co.).

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

28 minutes of warning. NWS GRB issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:10 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:02 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

The Green Bay radar (KGRB), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:35 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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