Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin · 2022

EF0 tornado, Newark to Afton, Wisconsin, May 25, 2022

From Newark to Afton, this EF0 tornado ran 3.5 miles across Rock County on May 25, 2022, touching down at 6:45 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

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
May 25, 2022
Touchdown
6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)
Lifted
6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)
On the ground
10 minutes
Path length
3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Rock County
Touchdown point
42.539, -89.138
Lift-off point
42.583, -89.104
Record number
2205251745-01

The damage survey

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MKX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

  • Trampoline was originally on other side of house.
  • Trailer lofted and rolled into neighbors yard.
  • Two sheds picked up and taken across street.

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

Mostly large branches and some small sheds that were lofted from this weak tornado. Storm spotters shared video of the tornado from a nearby field.

Lone tornado on this day with most of this damage being from broken tree parts and some small sheds that were lofted. One trampoline was blown from the backyard over the top of the house and into the front yard.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS MKX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:25 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:25 UTC00:00 UTCTornado WarningMKX

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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 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.

Davenport, (KDVN), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 155 km from the path. May 25, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -79021, lifted condensation level 667 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2022-05-25The 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 264 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-79021 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
285 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Davenport, (KDVN), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 155 km from the path. May 26, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2022-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 227 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 782 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, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2022-05-26The 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 155 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
227 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1389 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
782 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Janesville/Rock (JVL), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:45 UTC66.266.2130° 11 kt1008.5RA
22:45 UTC69.869.8110° 9 kt1007.8DZ
23:45 UTC69.869.8100° 7 kt1007.5BR
00:45 UTC69.869.80° 0 kt1007.5

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

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:43 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:49 UTCTORNADO6 Wnw BeloitRock, WIEF-0 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED PEAK WIND OF 75 MPH.
23:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Wnw BeloitRock, WISTORM SPOTTER REPORTS DAMAGE TO TREES AND SHEET METAL ROOFING.
23:50 UTCTORNADO6 Wnw BeloitRock, WIVIDEO SHARED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA CONFIRMS TORNADO AT PADDOCK AND FINLEY ROADS. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
23:53 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nw BeloitRock, WITRAINED SPOTTER REPORTS DAMAGE TO TREES AND VEHICLE AT THIS LOCATION.
00:03 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W BeloitRock, WIBROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED VIDEO OF DAMAGE AT WI-213 AND WEST SPRING CREEK RD. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
00:06 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nw BeloitRock, WIREPORT FROM MPING: TREES UPROOTED OR SNAPPED; ROOF BLOWN OFF. THIS REPORT GENERALLY MATCHES OTHER REPORTS OF DAMAGE IN THE AREA.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 25, 2022

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 255:11 AM CDTEF1Escambia, FL0.450
May 255:21 AM CDTEF1Jefferson, TX1.050$100,000
May 258:36 AM CDTEF0Pointe Coupee Parish, LA1.475
May 2510:28 AM CDTEF0DeKalb, AL0.365
May 2512:53 PM CDTEF0Leake, MS2.5150$50,000
May 251:16 PM CDTEF0Neshoba, MS2.3100$10,000
May 253:06 PM CDTEF1Stephenson, IL1.830

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.