Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin · 2010

EF1 tornado, Barronett, Wisconsin, August 7, 2010

This EF1 tornado ran 3.2 miles across Barron County on August 7, 2010, touching down at 11:57 PM CDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
August 7, 2010
Touchdown
11:57 PM CDT (04:57 UTC)
Lifted
12:01 AM CDT (05:01 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
3.2 miles (5.1 km)
Path width
125 yards (114 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$250,000
County
Barron County
Touchdown point
45.587, -91.977
Lift-off point
45.574, -91.914
Record number
1008072257-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several short-lived supercell thunderstorms that moved across central Minnesota during the late evening of Saturday August 7th, moved into Polk and Barron County, Wisconsin prior to midnight and produced several rounds of severe down burst winds, and two tornadoes near Luck, and Cumberland, Wisconsin.

A National Weather Service Storm Damage Survey determined that an EF-1 tornado touched down approximately 4.5 miles north-northeast of Cumberland, and tracked east-southeast to approximately six miles northeast of Cumberland, Wisconsin. Structural damage was confined to a barn and garage destroyed. Hundreds of trees were either uprooted and blown down, and several of the large trees were in excess of four feet in diameter.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:16 UTC and running to 04:59 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:16 UTC04:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchMPX
04:41 UTC05:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPX
05:00 UTC08:50 UTCTornado WatchMPX

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:05 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.

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z

5.0 hours before the tornado, 153 km from the path. August 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2010-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2210 joules per kilogram, CIN -30, lifted condensation level 1185 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2010-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 114 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2210 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2824 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1185 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
12.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 12:00Z

7.0 hours after it, 153 km from the path. August 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2010-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2883 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 507 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2010-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 15 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2883 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2089 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
507 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
6.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:54 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
04:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Sw SirenBurnett, WIBURNETT COUNTY SHERRIF REPORTED TREE DOWN. TIME APPROXIMATE.
04:40 UTCTORNADO6 E LuckPolk, WIEXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE THROUGH TORNADO PATH INCLUDING HUNDREDS OF TREES SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. STRONGEST DAMAGE INCLUDED A THREE FEET DIAMETER PINE TREE SNAPPED AND MULTIPLE TWO FEET DIAMETER TREES SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. IN
04:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw CumberlandBarron, WIDOWNBURST CAUSED EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE ONE MILE NORTH NORTHWEST OF CUMBERLAND INCLUDED SEVERAL LARGE TREES UPROOTED. ROOF COMPLETELY RIPPED OFF LARGE OUT BUILDING APPROXIMATELY TWO AND ONE HALF MILES NORTH OF CUMBERLAND.
04:57 UTCTORNADO5 Ne CumberlandBarron, WIMOST SERIOUS STRUCTURAL DAMAGE INCLUDED A BARN AND GARAGE DEMOLISHED. EXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE THROUGH TORNADO PATH INCLUDING HUNDREDS OF TREES SNAPPED AND UPROOTED. STRONGEST TREE DAMAGE INCLUDED A FOUR FEET DIAMETER TREE
05:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 E LuckPolk, WI3 HOMES DAMAGED IN BONE LAKE TOWNSHIP. ALSO 1 PERSON INJURED DO TO FLYING GLASS REQUIRING SEVERAL STITCHES.
05:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 E LuckPolk, WIOUT BUILDINGS DOWN. SIDING AND WINDOWS OFF HOUSE. THIS LOCATION WAS IN ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF A ONE HALF MILE LONG AND 100 YARD WIDE PATH OF SCATTERED DAMAGE. OTHER DAMAGE INCLUDED A SNOWMOBILE TRAILER BLOWN INTO A TREE.
05:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGCumberlandBarron, WINUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN CUMBERLAND...ALONG WITH THE NORTHERN HALF OF BARRON COUNTY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 7, 2010

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 71:10 PM EDTEF0Volusia, FL0.840$58,000
August 76:02 PM EDTEF0Palm Beach, FL1.830
August 76:25 PM CDTEF0Wilkin, MN to ND0.225
August 76:25 PM CDTEF4Tyler–Doran tornado, North Dakota and Minnesota5.0600
August 76:46 PM CDTEF0Wilkin, MN1.015
August 76:58 PM CDTEF1Otter Tail, MN4.075
August 77:33 PM CDTEF0Otter Tail, MN0.225
August 77:35 PM CDTEF1Grant, MN21.0100$25,000
August 77:59 PM CDTEF1Otter Tail, MN2.275
August 711:37 PM CDTEF0Polk, WI2.81001$100,000

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.