EF0 tornado, Steuben to Byrds Creek, Wisconsin, June 22, 2015

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

June 22, 2015

Touchdown

9:06 AM CDT (14:06 UTC)

Lifted

9:12 AM CDT (14:12 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

7.4 miles (11.9 km)

Path width

60 yards (55 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$34,000

Counties

Crawford and Richland counties

Touchdown point

43.213, -90.693

Lift-off point

43.220, -90.572

Record number

1506220806-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ARX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 76 mph.

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

An early morning squall line moved across southwest Wisconsin on June 22nd. This squall line produced winds of 60 to 70 mph and two small tornadoes. The first tornado damaged trees along its path north of Wauzeka (Crawford County). The second tornado damaged a few homes and numerous trees along its path north of Westport and Port Andrews (Crawford & Richland Counties). As the squall line moved across southwest Wisconsin it produced wind damage across the southern sections of Crawford and Richland Counties and over much of Grant County. Trees, power lines and at least one barn were blown down near Casseville (Grant County), multiple power lines were snapped east of Prairie du Chien (Crawford County), barns were damaged north of Port Andrew (Richland County) and 65 to 70 mph winds with damage were reported in Hazel Green and Platteville (Grant County).

A small tornado damaged trees along its path in southern Crawford County between Wauzeka and Steuben.

A tornado caused mainly tree damage in far southeast Crawford County before moving into Richland County.

The tornado traveled across rural portions of southwest Richland County north of Westport and Port Andrews. A few homes along County Roads W and M were damaged along with numerous trees.

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

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 11:05 UTC and running to 15:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 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), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:06 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 2015 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

26 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.