F1 tornado, Stockbridge, Wisconsin, May 31, 1998

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.

Rating

F1

Date

May 31, 1998

Touchdown

2:20 AM CDT (07:20 UTC)

Path length

1.4 miles (2.3 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Calumet County

Touchdown point

44.070, -88.300

Lift-off point

44.080, -88.270

Record number

905

A series of thunderstorms roared across the area late on May 30 and early on the 31st, causing about $1.8 million dollars in damage and injuring two people. Two tornadoes were also reported.One of the hardest hit areas was in Big Eau Pleine Park, about 8 miles west-southwest of Mosinee (Marathon co.). Thunderstorm winds from a downburst gusted to as high as 85 mph, flattening or damaging trees in a 200 yard wide and 1/2 mile long swath. One person was injured, suffering a broken leg. Several campers and vehicles were also damaged or destroyed. The same thunderstorm produced a brief tornado 4 miles west of Mosinee.In Winnebago county, high winds over 80 mph damaged 25 mobile homes around Menasha, overturning one of them. One of the occupants was slightly injured. Trees fell on several homes as well. In Pickett, winds of 70 mph were accompanied by 1 inch diameter hail.Calumet county was particularly hard hit, as well. Winds over 85 mph hit near Sherwood, where two barns were destroyed and two houses sustained damage. A garage at one of the residences was completely removed from its foundation and tipped on its side. A few minutes earlier from a different thunderstorm, a tornado touched down near Stockbridge, destroying a garage and silo, damaging two barns and overturning farm vehicles. A 2-by-4 was driven through the exterior wall of a house, narrowly missing one of the sleeping children. Damage in Calumet county alone topped $800,000.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 10:32 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), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:18 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 1998 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

45 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.