EF1 tornado, Hatfield, Wisconsin, April 17, 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 17, 2026

Touchdown

4:52 PM CDT (21:52 UTC)

Lifted

4:56 PM CDT (21:56 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.8 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

44.392, -90.762

Lift-off point

44.396, -90.715

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS ARX

The office's name for it

S of Hatfield, WI

Survey last edited

April 26, 2026

Record number

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

This tornado developed southwest of Hatfield along the Black River and churned eastward, causing extensive damage to trees as it roughly paralleled Old Highway 54. Despite the extensive tree damage, damage to buildings along the path was limited. The tornado was embedded within a larger downburst that caused equal, if not greater, damage than the tornado itself. The downburst undercut the tornado after only a few minutes in existence.

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

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ARX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Track narrow, most damage south flank. Damage stops north of track
• Looking east. Widespread tree damage right, nothing left.
• Residence fine amid tree damage
• South of track, inflow side

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

A prolific tornado outbreak brought 4 tornadoes to portions of western Wisconsin during the mid to late afternoon hours on April 17th. One of these tornadoes was a strong EF-3 tornado near the unincorporated community of Cream, Wisconsin. This intense tornado was responsible for substantially damaging a home with much of its exterior walls collapsed. Additional tornadoes occurred as these storms traveled into Trempealeau and Jackson counties, with tree and minor structural damage along their paths.

This tornado developed near the Black River before moving eastward through areas south of Hatfield. Most of the damage from this tornado was to trees, with limited damage to any infrastructure. The tornado then dissipated just northeast of the intersection of County Road K and Old Highway 54.

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

43 minutes of warning. NWS ARX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:09 UTC, 43 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:43 UTC and running to 00:22 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 19:53 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.

Black River Falls (BCK), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:52 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

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

All 89 of them

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.