F0 tornado, Menasha, Wisconsin, August 23, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F0

Date

August 23, 1998

Touchdown

4:22 PM CDT (21:22 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Winnebago County

Touchdown point

44.200, -88.450

Lift-off point

44.200, -88.450

Record number

1290

Three supercell thunderstorms dropped large hail and tornadoes across northeast and central Wisconsin during the afternoon and early evening. The first two storms developed quickly over central Wisconsin and then tracked east-southeast through the Fox Cities. These two storms primarily produced large hail (1 to 2 inches in diameter) and some wind damage. A brief tornado touched down with the first storm near Menasha (Winnebago co.). The third storm developed farther north in the northeast part of the state. This storm evolved more slowly, but went through the classic life-cycle of a tornadic supercell and spawned an F3 tornado in Door county.Large hail struck the Fox Cities, especially Appleton, producing over $5 million in damage to vehicles and roofs of buildings. This was the second multi-million dollar hailstorm this year in Appleton. In Sherwood (Calumet co.), hail damage to a golf course was so severe that it did not open until two days later. In Brillion (Calumet co.), hail shattered large glass panels of a church.The most severe damage occurred when a tornado tore a path 5.1 miles long and over a half-mile wide across Door county. The tornado came onshore from Green Bay at Murphy Park, on the Door county west coast at 630 pm. Thousands of trees were flattened in the heavily wooded area. About 30 homes, businesses and barns were destroyed or heavily damaged by the storm, but only two minor injuries were reported. Some livestock, however, including five horses, were lost. The tornado knocked down seven power poles holding electrical transmission lines, bringing blackouts to most of the north half of Door county. Thirty adults and 17 children at a campground found refuge in a concrete building as the tornado approached the grounds. Two minor injuries occurred at the camping resort as it took a direct hit. The twister made it almost two-thirds of the way across the county, before dissipating about 3 miles west of the Door county east coast.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS GRB issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:19 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 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 10:54 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 live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.