EF1 tornado, Stoughton to Kegonsa, Wisconsin, June 7, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

June 7, 2008

Touchdown

4:40 PM CDT (21:40 UTC)

Lifted

4:48 PM CDT (21:48 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

3.8 miles (6.2 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$429,000

County

Dane County

Touchdown point

42.924, -89.254

Lift-off point

42.964, -89.202

Record number

0806071540-01

A slow-moving surface boundary, nearly parallel with the mid-level flow affected southern Wisconsin during the period of June 7th through June 9th. A strengthening low-level jet and strong moisture advection produced several rounds of thunderstorms during the period in the vicinity of this boundary. The atmosphere was very moist with precipitable water values around 2 inches. Low to mid-level wind flow supported training of flood-producing thunderstorms. There was sufficient vertical wind shear to allow for supercell development that resulted in 10 tornadoes spinning up in south-central and southeast Wisconsin on June 7th. A weak cool front pushed through southern Wisconsin late on the 8th/early on the 9th, finally ending the heavy rainfall.||During the evening of June 7th, several roads near STH 89 south of Columbus were washed out. STH 16 east of Columbus closed on June 8th due to high waters. A state-of-emergency was declared in Milwaukee County the evening of June 7th due to widespread flash flooding, and Milwaukee Mitchell Field was close for several hours due to high water levels.

This tornado moved from just west of Hults Road on the far western part of Stoughton northeast to a point northwest of the intersection of CTH B and CTH N. Based on the observed damage, it was probably a multiple-vortex tornado. In the Stoughton area, with respect to residential homes, it resulted in very minor damage to 24 homes, minor damage to 21 homes, and major damage to 3 homes. Additionally, 1 church sustained major damage, and 1 tabacco shed was destroyed. Total estimated property damage (roofs, siding, walls, windows) in the Stoughton area was $409,000. In the Civil town of Pleasant Springs, 12 homes sustained minor damage estimated at about $20,000. The starting and ending locations in Dodge County, with respect to lat/long pairs of numbers, were 42.92395/-89.25369 and 42.96431/-89.20166, respectively. DI #2 (FR12), DOD4. Maximum wind speed about 90-95 mph. Average path width about 75 yards.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS MKX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:05 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:18 UTC and running to 00:46 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:42 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 2008 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.