Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin

2001 tornadoes in Wisconsin

12 tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin in 2001, 43 percent below the average of the record for the state. They killed 2 people and injured 17.

2000 2002 The whole country in 2001

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 2001

May 1 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 1	6:15 PM CDT	F0	Burnett	1.5	50
May 1	6:58 PM CDT	F0	Pierce	0.1	25
May 1	9:55 PM CDT	F1	Oneida	1.5	125	$10,000

June 11 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 11	6:11 PM CDT	F0	Buffalo	1.5	50
June 11	9:00 PM CDT	F0	Green Lake	0.2	30	$100,000
June 11	9:13 PM CDT	F1	Dodge	8.0	75	$700,000
June 11	9:45 PM CDT	F1	Washington	6.3	75	$420,000

June 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	8:06 PM CDT	F3	Burnett	34.0	880	2	16	$10 million

August 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 18	8:23 PM CDT	F0	Trempealeau	0.2	30

August 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 25	5:40 PM CDT	F1	Kenosha	4.5	50			$40,000

September 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 6	7:09 PM CDT	F0	Oneida	0.5	30			$70,000

September 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 7	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Monroe	0.3	30		1	$20,000

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.