Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin

2020 tornadoes in Wisconsin

18 tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin in 2020, 14 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

Every tornado in Wisconsin in 2020

March 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 28	8:35 PM CDT	EF1	Grant	6.2	120			$180,000

June 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 20	5:01 PM CDT	EF0	Winnebago	0.2	50
June 20	5:23 PM CDT	EF0	Winnebago	1.1	75
June 20	5:35 PM CDT	EF0	Winnebago	3.4	75

July 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 18	1:48 AM CDT	EF1	Douglas	0.4	50
July 18	2:51 AM CDT	EF1	Ashland	0.6	50
July 18	12:50 AM CDT	EF1	Trempealeau	3.6	200	$120,000

July 21 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 21	5:22 PM CDT	EF0	Polk	0.2	25
July 21	5:50 PM CDT	EF0	Barron	1.5	20
July 21	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Dunn	0.1	25
July 21	8:12 PM CDT	EF0	Chippewa	3.5	25
July 21	8:44 PM CDT	EF0	Chippewa	2.9	150

August 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 9	7:44 PM CDT	EF1	Vilas	6.2	400
August 9	8:28 PM CDT	EF1	Vilas	5.9	250
August 9	9:12 PM CDT	EF1	Iron to MI	4.6	250	$70,000

August 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 10	12:32 PM CDT	EF0	Grant	0.6	50			$15,000
August 10	3:38 PM CDT	EF0	Walworth	3.3	50			$12,000

September 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 25	7:52 PM CDT	EF0	Iron	0.8	50

Crossed into Wisconsin

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Wisconsin. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 18	9:54 PM CDT	EF1	Washington, MN to WI	9.5	400			$100,000
August 10	3:41 PM CDT	EF1	Lake, IL to WI	6.3	150			$250,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Wisconsin since 1950 Warnings in force in Wisconsin The live radar over Wisconsin

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.