EF2 tornado, Solon Springs, Wisconsin, July 1, 2011

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

July 1, 2011

Touchdown

7:51 PM CDT (00:51 UTC)

Lifted

7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Douglas County

Touchdown point

46.315, -91.874

Lift-off point

46.354, -91.848

Record number

1107011851-01

A strong but nearly stationary cold front ran just inland from the Minnesota north shore of Lake Superior southwestward through the Sioux Falls SD area. Warm and unstable air with high surface dew points pooled along and east of the front, including over the Wisconsin blow down area. A cluster of thunderstorms became severe just west of the upper St Croix river, in Pine County MN, and spread rapidly northeastward through northwest Wisconsin. Extensive straight-line wind damage occurred. In Burnett County 140,000 acres of trees were damaged or destroyed, which is estimated to be 1.5 million cords. Damage to public property, like roads and trails, was $1.8 million. Uninsured property damage was estimated at $350,000. The storm injured 39 people. Most injuries were minor.

A house was destroyed and its outbuildings were destroyed. Several other outbuildings and houses were damaged. Many trees were snapped off or uprooted. Peak winds were estimated at 120 to 130 mph.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS DLH issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:30 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:12 UTC and running to 03:00 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 19:45 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.

Superior (SUW), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:51 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 2011 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.