Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin · 2014

EF0 tornado, Ashland, Wisconsin, August 11, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Ashland County on August 11, 2014, touching down at 1:46 PM CDT and reaching 3 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
August 11, 2014
Touchdown
1:46 PM CDT (18:46 UTC)
Lifted
1:47 PM CDT (18:47 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
3 yards (3 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Ashland County
Touchdown point
46.584, -90.923
Lift-off point
46.584, -90.923
Record number
1408111246-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS DLH and NWS MKX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A few storms formed over the southern end of Chequamegon Bay just to the west Ashland, WI on during the early afternoon of August 11th. At least two witnesses saw a waterspout form over the Bay and then briefly move inland as a tornado with the storms moving to the south-southwest. Pictures were taken of the waterspout. One witness described the tornado moved inland for about 10 seconds before dissipating near the median on Highway 2.

At least two witnesses saw a waterspout form over Chequamegon Bay and then briefly move inland as a tornado with the storms moving to the south-southwest. Pictures were taken of the waterspout. One witness described the tornado moved inland for about 10 seconds before dissipating near the median on Highway 2.

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.

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 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), 12:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 283 km from the path. August 11, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2014-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 65 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 488 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 2014-08-11The 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 -96 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 knots.1939Sfc1 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
65 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
488 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), 00:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 283 km from the path. August 12, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2014-08-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 21 joules per kilogram, CIN -19, lifted condensation level 1621 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 2014-08-12The 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 49 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 knots.193958Sfc1 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
21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-19 J/kg
Surface CAPE
155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:46 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 11, 2014

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 113:00 PM EDTEF0Muskingum, OH0.225$1,000

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.