Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin

2009 tornadoes in Wisconsin

16 tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin in 2009, 24 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2008 2010 The whole country in 2009

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Wisconsin in 2009

April 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	6:45 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	0.1	15

June 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	3:38 PM CDT	EF0	Waukesha	3.1	100

June 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 18	11:27 PM CDT	EF0	Iowa	0.5	50

June 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 19	5:42 PM CDT	EF0	Kenosha	1.2	50

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	8:09 PM CDT	EF0	Rock	0.8	30			$8,000

July 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	5:12 PM CDT	EF0	Lafayette	3.4	75			$100,000
July 24	6:32 PM CDT	EF0	Lafayette	4.2	50			$50,000

July 27 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 27	5:16 PM CDT	EF1	Crawford	4.0	75	$30,000
July 27	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Marquette	9.6	150	$10,000
July 27	8:10 PM CDT	EF0	Lafayette	0.1	25

August 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 8	10:24 PM CDT	EF1	Saint Croix	5.0	450			$500,000
August 8	10:51 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Croix	0.3	50			$100,000

August 19 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 19	2:57 PM CDT	EF0	Pierce	0.2	10
August 19	3:05 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Croix	0.4	25	$25,000
August 19	3:58 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Croix	1.4	25
August 19	4:11 PM CDT	EF0	Saint Croix	1.7	25

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.