EF2 tornado, Tunnel City to Arnott, Wisconsin, May 22, 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

May 22, 2011

Touchdown

5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)

Lifted

6:46 PM CDT (23:46 UTC)

On the ground

91 minutes

Path length

64.5 miles (103.8 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$7.7 million

Counties

Monroe, Juneau, Wood and Portage counties

Touchdown point

44.043, -90.566

Lift-off point

44.397, -89.366

Record number

1105221615-01

During the afternoon of May 22nd, severe thunderstorms developed along a cold front as it moved through western Wisconsin. These severe thunderstorms produced three confirmed tornadoes, two of which were rated as EF2 with the other being an EF1. The first tornado hit the southern sections of the city of La Crosse (La Crosse County) and caused an estimated 15 million dollars in damage where almost 200 buildings were damaged including 9 homes that were destroyed. The second tornado tracked from extreme eastern La Crosse County into Monroe County passing through the southern portions of Sparta (Monroe County). Considerable damage occurred in Sparta with a local car dealership sustaining damage to vehicles on the sales lot. The third tornado was on the ground for almost 65 miles as it tracked from eastern Monroe County, across northern Juneau County, through southern Wood County and into Portage County before dissipating. Damage estimates for this tornado in Monroe and Juneau Counties are close to 6 million dollars with most of this occurring in Juneau County where a cranberry farm was severely damaged.

Severe thunderstorms produced high winds, large hail, and a tornado across central and northeast Wisconsin on May 22, 2011. Unstable air combined with a surface boundary and an upper air disturbance to produce thunderstorms. Storms became severe during the afternoon and early evening, causing numerous incidents of large hail and isolated straight-line wind damage. A long-track tornado moved from western Wisconsin into the central part of the state, snapping or uprooting many hundreds of trees and damaging several buildings and farm equipment.

This tornado first developed about 4 miles northwest of Tomah. It then proceeded to move east-northeast crossing Interstate 94 north of Tomah. A house and mobile home were destoyed north of Tomah and another house was significantly damaged northeast of Tomah. The tornado then passed through mainly wooded rural areas before crossing into Juneau County southwest of Mather. Damage estimates for this tornado are just over $500,000.

This tornado entered into Juneau County southwest of Mather and then tracked northeast across the Necedah Wildlife Refuge between Mather and Finley damaging numerous trees. As the tornado approached Finley, it grew in size and was nearly a half mile wide as it crossed County Road F east of Finley. In this area, numerous trees were snapped or blown down with some of them landing on nearby homes. At a cranberry business east of Finley, all of the outbuildings and sheds were demolished and tossed into nearby fields and a loading deck platform and trucks were heavily damaged. Thick wooden power poles in this area were snapped or sheared off over a half mile long stretch. The tornado then weakened as it moved northeast toward the Wood-Juneau County line with damage to trees and some minor roof and siding damage. Total damages across Juneau county from this tornado were estimated to be $4.4 million.

The tornado moved out of Juneau County at 6:03 pm CDT (1703 CST) and moved east-northeast across southern Wood County. The storm hit a campground on the east shore of the Wisconsin River about three miles south of Nekoosa. Over 100 pine trees were snapped and uprooted on the campground, some two feet in diameter (DI 28 DOD 4). Several camper vehicles were damaged by fallen trees. The tornado was seen by campground visitors just before 6:15 pm. The tornado continued east-northeast and snapped or uprooted hundreds of additional trees south of Wisconsin Rapids. The storm damaged at least six homes and several other outbuildings about six miles south-southeast of Wisconsin Rapids. One of the houses lost the entire roof of a garage (DI 2, DOD 4). A woman in the garage at the time sustained injuries when the garage fell on the truck that she was taking shelter in. This area experienced high-end EF1 damage with winds at least 95 to 105 mph. The tornado entered Portage County at 6:20 PM CDT (1720 CST).

The tornado entered Portage County from Wood County at 6:20 pm CDT (1720 CST) mainly over farmland. The twister continued to snap trees (DI 28, DOD 4) and overturn agricultural irrigation systems. About six miles south of Plover, a nearly half-mile long row of power poles were bent over (DI 24, DOD 3). The tornado crossed Interstate 39 at Coddington Road two miles west of Keene. The tornado grew to nearly 700 yards wide as it passed just north of Keene and heavily damaged a farmstead. A silo was damaged and barn flattened (DI 1, DOD 6). Several outbuildings were also damaged or destroyed. Along the path, at least two dozen irrigation systems were overturned and damaged (resulting in over $1 million in losses) and many hundreds of trees snapped or uprooted. This area also experienced high-end EF1 damage with winds of 100 to 110 mph. The tornado dissipated about nine miles southeast of Plover at about 6:46 pm (1746 CST). The average path width was 300 yards.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS ARX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:56 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:10 UTC and running to 00:16 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 20:00 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 La Crosse radar (KARX), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:15 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

47 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.