EF1 tornado, Utica to Busseyville, Wisconsin, April 13, 2026

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 mphthis tornado

   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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

April 13, 2026

Touchdown

12:45 AM CDT (05:45 UTC)

Lifted

12:50 AM CDT (05:50 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

5.9 miles (9.5 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Dane and Jefferson counties

Touchdown point

42.951, -89.113

Lift-off point

42.929, -89.005

Highest wind the damage implies

105 mph

Surveyed by

NWS MKX

The office's name for it

Rockdale

Survey last edited

April 21, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

Tornado appears to have started west of I-39 along Church Rd where it tracked to the north side before hitting a farmstead along Highway 73. Two metal barn structures were completely destroyed with sheet metal from these buildings found in the trees in the far farm hill. A cement silo was also lifted up and had 3 large chunks of the cap broken off of it. The tornado appears to have gone southeast toward County Road A before ending near Woodside School Rd. Extensive straight line/rear flank downdraft damage occurred about a mile or two to the south of the tornado with one farm shed destroyed along Hwy 73 south of Thronson Rd. Sheet metal from this building appeared to be tumbled into the nearby field to the east.

Written by NWS MKX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

A line of strong to severe storms developed over central Wisconsin as warm, moist and unstable air aloft surged into the region. The line of storms then moved southeast across southern Wisconsin. Widespread wind damage occurred across much of south central to southeast Wisconsin, with two tornadoes documented along with the high winds.

Tornado appears to have started west of I-39 along Church Rd where it tracked to the north side before hitting a farmstead along Highway 73. Two metal barn structures were completely destroyed with sheet metal from these buildings found in the trees in the far farm hill to the east. A cement silo was also lifted up and had 3 large chunks of the cap broken off of it. The tornado appears to have gone southeast toward County Road A before ending near Woodside School Rd. Extensive straight line/rear flank downdraft wind damage occurred about a mile or two to the south of the tornado with one farm shed destroyed along Highway 73 south of Thornson Rd. Sheet metal from this building appeared to be tumbled into the nearby field to the east.

Continuation of the Dane County/Rockdale tornado. Only briefly went into Jefferson county with a field tree line hit.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS MKX issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:27 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:42 UTC and running to 07:32 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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.

Madison (MSN), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:44 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 2026 tornado in WisconsinEvery tornado in Wisconsin since 1950Warnings in force in Wisconsin nowThe forecast where you are

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.