F1 tornado, Cataract, Wisconsin, June 1, 2000

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

June 1, 2000

Touchdown

3:02 PM CDT (20:02 UTC)

Path length

4.5 miles (7.2 km)

Path width

120 yards (110 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Monroe County

Touchdown point

44.050, -90.880

Lift-off point

44.050, -90.780

Record number

959

A tornado touched down near Cataract (Monroe County), shearing off trees, demolishing barns and sheds, causing light structural damage to a house and tossing farm equipment and debris about 600 to 700 yards. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. This same thunderstorm produced hail as large as softballs through the Oakdale area (Monroe County) and communities southeast along the Highway 12 - Interstate 90/94 corridor. There was extensive roof, siding and window damage in and around Oakdale. Nearly every building in town had damage on the north and west facing walls. Hundreds of cars, including those traveling along Interstate 90/94, had broken windshields and sustained large dents. There were numerous trees and large branches broke or blown to the southeast. Another tornado touched down just north of New Lisbon (Juneau County), then tracked southeast before lifting just north of Mauston (Juneau County). Damage consisted of sheared or blown down trees, barns and sheds demolished, garages heavily damaged, and some light structural damage to homes. Hardest hit were homes and farms along 8th Avenue north of New Lisbon, along Meredith Road north of Mauston, and along Highway 58 north of Mauston. There were no reports of injuries or deaths. There was also downburst (microburst) wind damage south and west of New Lisbon along Highway 80 and County Roads B and A. Downburst wind damage was also seen along Interstate 90/94 between Camp Douglas and New Lisbon with hundreds of trees blown down or sheared off. Juneau and Monroe County were declared federal disaster areas due to the extensive storm damage.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 20:21 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 live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.