F1 tornado, Milton, Wisconsin, July 25, 2005

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

July 25, 2005

Touchdown

4:07 PM CDT (21:07 UTC)

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Rock County

Touchdown point

42.820, -88.920

Lift-off point

42.820, -88.880

Record number

270

Two rounds of severe weather occurred on July 25th. The first round developed during the afternoon hours as instability increased and scattered severe storms developed and tracked across Iowa, northern Illinois and extreme southern Wisconsin. One pulsing storm produced damaging downburst winds which toppled large trees on a golf course southeast of Monroe. One strong supercell storm crossed into Wisconsin and propagated into Rock County where it nearly stalled and began backbuilding. Rotating wall clouds were reported across Rock County by law enforcement. Golf ball sized hail (1.75") was reported from 1 NE Milton to 7 NE Milton at 1500CST, resulting in extensive crop damage. Downburst winds were reported west, north, and northeast of Milton. At 1507CST a rain-wrapped tornado developed 4 NNE Milton and traveled east to 5 NE Milton where it dissipated at 1511CST. Some structural damage resulted, and winds were estimated around 85 knots (100 mph), giving this tornado a F1 ranking. Other thunderstorms developed across Columbia and Dodge counties, producing mainly funnel clouds.The second round of severe weather came with the cold front after 2100CST. A line of severe thunderstorms, with some bowing segments, developed and pushed through south central and southeast Wisconsin during the late evening. Damaging winds, which toppled large trees, with some large hail, were noted with this line. A thunderstorm with estimated wind gusts of 65 knots (75 mph) caused a tree to be uprooted and land on a house in Baraboo at 2110 CST, causing 20,000 dollars in damage. Near Hartford, a 20 by 20 foot section of a barn door was blown off as well as a roof of a storage garage. A 100 by 30 foot corn patch was also flattened. Elsewhere, scattered reports of tree damage were reported.

A tornado spun up at 1507CST about 4 miles north-northeast of Milton (Rock Co.). about 1/4 mile north of the intersection of Vickerman Rd. and Godfrey Rd. It traveled east-southeast for 2 miles and dissipated just northwest of the intersection of McCord Rd. and Salisbury Drive. On Godfrey Rd it destroyed one large barn, severely damaged another barn, destroyed a shed, and inflicted minor damage to a home. Otherwise many large trees were uprooted or shredded, and a couple power lines were ripped.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS MKX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:54 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:26 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 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 Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:07 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 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.