Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin · 2008
EF0 tornado, Liberty Pole, Wisconsin, June 7, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Vernon County on June 7, 2008, touching down at 5:48 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $15,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- June 7, 2008
- Touchdown
- 5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.4 miles (0.6 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Crop damage
- $10,000
- County
- Vernon County
- Touchdown point
- 43.481, -90.908
- Lift-off point
- 43.483, -90.900
- Record number
- 0806071648-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A warm front extending east to west across the Upper Mississippi River Valley was the focus for a significant severe weather event on June 7. A total of four tornadoes were confirmed, while numerous reports of wind damage and large hail were received from law enforcement officials and storm spotters.||On Sunday, June 8, the warm front was lingering across the region, but a cold front was quickly tracking east out of the northern Plains. Showers and storms redeveloped during the day in the vicinity of the warm front, while a line of storms developed out ahead of the cold front, with these tracking across the region Sunday night. The severe weather activity, aside from heavy rain, was not as widespread compared to Saturday, June 7.
A tornado touched down about 1 mile south of Liberty Pole, WI in rural Vernon County. This tornado hit a machine shed and tossed machinery into the air in addition to hitting nearby trees. It was rated an EF0.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:20 UTC and running to 00:44 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:20 UTC | 00:44 UTC | Tornado Watch | ARX |
| 17:33 UTC | 18:05 UTC | Tornado Warning | ARX |
| 22:19 UTC | 05:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | ARX |
| 22:53 UTC | 18:56 UTC | Flood Warning | ARX |
| 22:59 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | ARX |
| 23:00 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | ARX |
| 23:46 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX |
| 23:56 UTC | 01:09 UTC | Flood Warning | ARX |
| 03:49 UTC | 18:43 UTC | Flood Warning | ARX |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. 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 air that afternoon
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.
Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z
10.8 hours before the tornado, 210 km from the path. June 7, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2173 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 85 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 584 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 173 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 96 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 10.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.2 K/km
Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z
1.2 hours after it, 210 km from the path. June 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2793 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3680 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1056 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 164 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 221 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.3
- Supercell composite
- 16.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.9 K/km
The radar
The La Crosse radar (KARX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:03 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Onalaska | La Crosse, WI | LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN. |
| 22:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Onalaska | La Crosse, WI | LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN. |
| 22:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Barre Mills | La Crosse, WI | TREES BLOWN DOWN. |
| 22:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Barre Mills | La Crosse, WI | TREES BLOWN DOWN. |
| 22:45 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Barre Mills | La Crosse, WI | TORNADO ON THE GROUND WITH DEBRIS |
| 22:45 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Barre Mills | La Crosse, WI | TORNADO ON THE GROUND WITH DEBRIS |
| 22:45 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Barre Mills | La Crosse, WI | NWS EMPLOYEE SURVEYED DAMAGE AROUND AND EAST OF BARRE MILLS. SOME WIND DAMAGE NEAR BARRE MILLS BUT BRIEF TORNADO TRACK EAST OF THERE WITH DAMAGE TO TREES AND ROOFS OF HOMES. PRELIM. RATING IS EF1. TIME IS APPROX. |
| 22:48 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Liberty Pole | Vernon, WI | SHED DAMAGED AND MACHINERY THROWN INTO FIELDS. |
| 22:48 UTC | TORNADO | 1 S Liberty Pole | Vernon, WI | SHED DAMAGED AND MACHINERY THROWN INTO FIELDS. |
| 23:01 UTC | FLOOD | Leon | Monroe, WI | WATER OVER HIGHWAY 27 AT JACKPOT AVE |
| 23:01 UTC | FLOOD | Leon | Monroe, WI | WATER OVER HIGHWAY 27 AT JACKPOT AVE |
| 23:01 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Viroqua | Vernon, WI | WEAK TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY T SOUTH OF VIROQUA |
| 23:01 UTC | TORNADO | 4 S Viroqua | Vernon, WI | WEAK TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY T SOUTH OF VIROQUA |
| 23:10 UTC | FLOOD | 2 S Sparta | Monroe, WI | PONDING OF WATER REPORTED AGAIN JUST SOUTH OF SPARTA ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90. |
| 23:10 UTC | FLOOD | 2 S Sparta | Monroe, WI | PONDING OF WATER REPORTED AGAIN JUST SOUTH OF SPARTA ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90. |
| 23:29 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Yuba | Richland, WI | |
| 23:29 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Yuba | Richland, WI | |
| 23:37 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 4 S Hillsboro | Vernon, WI | |
| 23:37 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 4 S Hillsboro | Vernon, WI | |
| 23:38 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 2 N Hub City | Richland, WI | REPORTED AT HWY 80 AND COUNTY ROADS CC. |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 5 W Cazenovia | Richland, WI | ALSO HALF INCH HAIL AT TIME. LOTS OF DEBRIS BLOWING THROUGH THE AIR. |
| 23:57 UTC | FLOOD | Elroy | Juneau, WI | WATER OVER MILLER ROAD AND AREA CREEKS ALL RUNNING VERY HIGH. |
| 23:57 UTC | FLOOD | Elroy | Juneau, WI | WATER OVER MILLER ROAD AND AREA CREEKS ALL RUNNING VERY HIGH. |
| 00:04 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Viroqua | Vernon, WI | SHERIFF DEPT GETTING LOTS OF CALL ABOUT WATER OVER ROADS AND BACKED UP DRAINAGE AREAS. |
| 00:04 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Viroqua | Vernon, WI | SHERIFF DEPT GETTING LOTS OF CALL ABOUT WATER OVER ROADS AND BACKED UP DRAINAGE AREAS. |
| 00:25 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 3 | 1 N Leon | Monroe, WI | 3 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE 515 PM |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 7, 2008
30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 7 | 1:52 PM CDT | EF0 | Grant, WI | 0.1 | 30 | $750 | ||
| June 7 | 1:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Marquette, WI | 5.1 | 100 | $302,000 | ||
| June 7 | 2:32 PM CDT | EF2 | Columbia, WI | 8.6 | 3,520 | 6 | $2.5 million | |
| June 7 | 3:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Dodge, WI | 2.2 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Columbia, WI | 2.9 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| June 7 | 3:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Sauk, WI | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Dane, WI | 0.5 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:38 PM CDT | EF0 | Dane, WI | 0.2 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 3:41 PM CDT | EF1 | Winnebago, IA | 6.4 | 150 | $250,000 | ||
| June 7 | 3:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson, WI | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 4:16 PM CDT | EF0 | Worth, IA | 1.7 | 75 | |||
| June 7 | 4:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Livingston, IL | 0.9 | 20 | |||
| June 7 | 4:23 PM CDT | EF0 | Worth, IA | 2.1 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:31 PM CDT | EF1 | Livingston, IL | 3.6 | 40 | $50,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Dane, WI | 3.8 | 150 | $429,000 | ||
| June 7 | 4:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Houston, MN | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 4:50 PM CDT | EF0 | Mitchell, IA | 0.3 | 30 | |||
| June 7 | 5:18 PM CDT | EF2 | Kankakee, IL | 14.5 | 200 | $500,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Mitchell, IA | 1.1 | 25 | |||
| June 7 | 5:37 PM CDT | EF0 | Waukesha, WI | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 7 | 5:42 PM CDT | EF0 | Cerro Gordo, IA | 1.0 | 40 | $5,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:45 PM CDT | EF1 | La Crosse, WI | 6.0 | 200 | $93,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:51 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 2.2 | 400 | $50,000 | ||
| June 7 | 5:55 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 3.7 | 150 | $500,000 | ||
| June 7 | 6:13 PM CDT | EF2 | Will, IL | 6.5 | 150 | 6 | $9.5 million | |
| June 7 | 6:32 PM CDT | EF1 | Cook, IL | 2.0 | 75 | $1.0 million | ||
| June 7 | 6:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Cook, IL | 0.4 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| June 7 | 6:55 PM CDT | EF0 | Osborne, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 8:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Osborne, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 7 | 8:37 PM CDT | EF0 | Smith, KS | 0.1 | 50 |
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.