Tornadoes · United States · Wisconsin
Tornadoes in Portage County, Wisconsin
25 tornadoes have crossed Portage County since 1950, 37th of the 72 counties in Wisconsin with a tornado on record, an average of one every 3.0 years. They have killed 8 people and injured 10. 1 was rated F4 or EF4 and above. Before 1950, Grazulis's record of significant tornadoes has 7 more crossing the county, back to 1863.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The United States rated tornadoes on Ted Fujita’s F scale until 31 January 2007 and on the Enhanced Fujita scale after it. Both run from 0 to 5, and both rate the damage rather than measure the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F0 / EF040 to 72 mph on the F scale, 65 to 85 mph on the EF scale
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F1 / EF173 to 112 mph on the F scale, 86 to 110 mph on the EF scale
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2 / EF2113 to 157 mph on the F scale, 111 to 135 mph on the EF scale
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.
F3 / EF3158 to 206 mph on the F scale, 136 to 165 mph on the EF scale
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4 / EF4207 to 260 mph on the F scale, 166 to 200 mph on the EF scale
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5 / EF5261 to 318 mph on the F scale, over 200 mph on the EF scale
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.
Now
- Tornadoes
- 25
- Deaths
- 8
- Injuries
- 10
- F4 and above
- 1
- Worst on record
- F4, September 26, 1951
The deadliest in Portage County
The strongest
- F4, Portage and Waupaca counties, WisconsinSeptember 26, 1951
- EF2, Monroe, Juneau, Wood and Portage counties, WisconsinMay 22, 2011
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinApril 3, 1956
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinMay 16, 1992
- F2, Portage and Waupaca counties, WisconsinJune 23, 2004
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinAugust 22, 1964
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinApril 27, 1984
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinJuly 7, 1970
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinJune 13, 1976
- F2, Portage County, WisconsinJune 12, 1976
Every year with a tornado
The 17 years of the 76 in the record with a tornado in Portage County. Each year links to every tornado in Wisconsin that year.
Every tornado that crossed Portage County
25 tornadoes, newest first.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 2025 | 5:52 PM CDT | EF0 | Portage | 5.2 | 45 | |||
| July 12, 2017 | 8:30 PM CDT | EF0 | Portage | 0.7 | 30 | $5,000 | ||
| July 9, 2013 | 5:44 PM CDT | EF0 | Portage | 0.2 | 25 | |||
| May 22, 2011 | 5:15 PM CDT | EF2 | Monroe | 64.5 | 800 | 1 | $7.7 million | |
| June 23, 2004 | 7:53 PM CDT | F2 | Portage | 10.0 | 125 | $1.1 million | ||
| June 23, 2004 | 7:47 PM CDT | F0 | Portage | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 23, 2004 | 7:46 PM CDT | F1 | Portage | 1.5 | 25 | |||
| October 8, 1992 | 6:12 PM CDT | F1 | Portage | 2.0 | 100 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| May 16, 1992 | 7:10 PM CDT | F2 | Portage | 11.0 | 400 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| May 16, 1992 | 3:30 PM CDT | F1 | Portage | 1.2 | 400 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| May 8, 1988 | 6:12 PM CDT | F0 | Portage | 1.0 | 20 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| April 27, 1984 | 2:15 PM CST | F2 | Portage | 5.5 | 20 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| March 30, 1982 | 2:05 PM CST | F1 | Wood | 28.0 | 10 | 2 | $50,000 to $500,000 | |
| June 13, 1976 | 8:00 PM CDT | F2 | Portage | 0.3 | 50 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| June 13, 1976 | 7:40 PM CDT | F1 | Wood | 24.6 | 100 | 2 | $500 to $5,000 | |
| June 12, 1976 | 10:00 PM CDT | F1 | Portage | 0.3 | 50 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| June 12, 1976 | 9:30 PM CDT | F2 | Portage | 0.2 | 50 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| June 9, 1974 | 3:45 PM CDT | F1 | Portage | 2.5 | 30 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| December 1, 1970 | 7:00 AM CST | F1 | Portage | 2.7 | 200 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| July 7, 1970 | 4:00 PM CDT | F2 | Portage | 2.0 | 100 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| August 22, 1964 | 3:00 PM GMT-5 | F2 | Portage | 6.4 | 333 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| June 23, 1962 | 8:00 PM GMT-5 | F0 | Portage | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| April 19, 1957 | 4:00 PM GMT-6 | F1 | Portage | 12.6 | 33 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| April 3, 1956 | 12:50 PM GMT-6 | F2 | Portage | 18.2 | 100 | 2 | 2 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
| September 26, 1951 | 4:45 PM GMT-5 | F4 | Portage | 26.4 | 100 | 6 | 3 | $50,000 to $500,000 |
Portage County before 1950
Before 1950 the record is Thomas P. Grazulis’s list of significant tornadoes: those rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. 7 of them crossed Portage County, killing 10. They are not in the figures above, which are SPC's from 1950.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 19, 1945 | 4:30 PM CST | F2 | Arpin/SE Stevens Point, WI | 26.7 | 200 | 2 | ||
| June 18, 1944 | 3:50 PM CST | F2 | S Plover, WI | 15.4 | 70 | 3 | ||
| June 26, 1918 | 8:30 PM CST | F2 | S Milladore/S Sherry, WI | 44.0 | 70 | 2 | ||
| November 25, 1908 | 7:10 PM CST | F3 | E Wisconsin Rapids/S Mecham to N Stevens Point, WI | 11.9 | 100 | 1 | 10 | |
| November 25, 1908 | 6:45 PM CST | F3 | W Rudolph/Carson Township/Eau Plaine Township to N Junction City, WI | 8.8 | 70 | 1 | 1 | |
| October 3, 1903 | 4:00 PM CST | F4 | S Bancroft to W Sheridan, WI | 22.3 | 200 | 5 | 40 | |
| August 13, 1863 | 9:00 PM CST | Unrated | Buena Vista, WI | 3 | 20 |
About the record before 1950
- Significant tornadoes only
- Grazulis listed tornadoes rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. Most tornadoes are weaker than F2, so the list holds a fraction of the tornadoes that happened.
- The early years are thin
- A tornado is on record only where somebody saw it and wrote it down. The count rises through the 1800s with settlement and newspapers, not with the weather.
- Rated from accounts
- Grazulis rated each tornado decades later from newspaper reports, Weather Bureau records and local histories, not from a damage survey.
- The tracks are reconstructed
- Tornado Archive drew each path through the places Grazulis names, most often as a straight line from the first to the last. A track can miss a town it hit, and a tornado with one named place is a point. The counties are today’s.
- A separate record
- SPC’s database, from 1950, counts every confirmed tornado of any strength. The two are kept apart on every page and never added together.
Nearby
Warnings in force in Portage CountyThe forecast for Portage CountyThe live radar over Portage CountyEvery county in 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. Before 1950: Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 and Significant Tornadoes 1880-1989, as digitized by Tornado Archive (Maas and others, 2024). Public domain. Counties assigned by this site from today’s NWS county lines.