Wisconsin Tornado Outbreak of August 2005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Wisconsin Tornado Outbreak of August 2005

Date of tornado outbreak:

August 18, 2005

Duration¹:

6 hours, 22 minutes

Maximum rated tornado²:

F3 tornado

Tornadoes caused:

27 confirmed

Damages:

>$44 million

Fatalities:

Areas affected:

Wisconsin, Minnesota

¹Time from first tornado to last tornado
²Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The Wisconsin Tornado Outbreak was an outbreak of tornadoes that occurred primarily in southern Wisconsin on August 18, 2005; though tornadoes also occurred in Minnesota and Iowa related with this system. A total of 27 confirmed tornadoes were reported that day in Wisconsin, the most confirmed tornadoes that have ever occurred in the state in a single day. This broke the previous record of 24 tornadoes set on May 8, 1988. There were also many reports of significantly severe winds and hail throughout the region.

Confirmed Total	Confirmed F0	Confirmed F1	Confirmed F2	Confirmed F3	Confirmed F4	Confirmed F5
24	9	13	2	1	0	0

1 Confirmed tornadoes
2 Stoughton area tornado
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Confirmed tornadoes

F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Wisconsin
F0	N of Dexter	Mower, MN	1750	300 yd (270 m)	Damage limited to a single livestock barn.
F0	W of Centerville	Trempealeau	1918	50 yd (45 m)	Remained in a grove of trees and damaged them along its extremely short path.
F1	W of Esofea	Vernon	2046	1.2 miles (2 km)	One mobile home was destroyed, injuring an occupant. Several other buildings suffered varying degrees of damage, and many trees and power lines were snapped.
F2	Viola area	Vernon	2105	6 miles (10 km)	Considerable damage in the village of Viola, with some homes suffering structural damage and many others suffering at least minor damage. Heavy damage to most trees.
F1	Muscoda to Orion	Grant, Richland	2140	4 miles (6.5 km)	Damage was sustained to about 10 homes. Many trees and power lines were snapped. Path crossed the Wisconsin River as a waterspout.
F1	Necedah area	Monroe, Juneau	2154	10 miles (16 km)	3 homes suffered minor damage and a construction site was destroyed. Significant damage to many trees.
F0	E of Avoca	Iowa	2155	0.1 mile (200 m)	No damage was reported from this brief tornado.
F1	NE of Clyde	Iowa, Sauk	2218	6.5 miles (11 km)
F1	Spring Green	Sauk	2230	1.9 miles (3.1 km)	No real structural damage, however there were many fallen or uprooted trees.
F1	Springville	Adams	2239	0.8 mile (1.2 km)	Several mobile homes were damaged.
F2	Bluffview area	Sauk, Columbia	2240	10 miles (16 km)	Many trees down, several buildings damaged and some crops destroyed.
F0	W of Merrimac	Sauk	2300	1 miles (1.6 km)	Spotted along the Wisconsin River.
F1	NE of Westfield	Marquette	2308	5.5 miles (9 km)	Many trees down and damage to at least one home.
F0	NE of Lodi	Columbia	2310	0.1 mile (200 m)	No damage reported from this brief tornado.
F3	Stoughton area	Dane, Jefferson	2315	20 miles (32 km)	1 death - see section on this tornado.
F0	Dane	Dane	2317	2 miles (3.2 km)
F1	S of Rockdale	Dane	0010	1.6 miles (2.5 km)
F0	W of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0017	0.5 mile (800 m)	First tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado. Combined damage was minor.
F1	W of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0020	0.7 mile (1.1 km)	Second tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado.
F1	SW of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0027	1.2 miles (2 km)	Third tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado.
F1	S of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0037	1.4 miles (2.3 km)	Fourth tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado.
F1	S of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0044	3 miles (5 km)	Fifth tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado.
F0	SE of Fort Atkinson	Jefferson	0045	0.2 mile (300 m)	Sixth and final tornado of same tornado family as Stoughton tornado.

[edit] Stoughton area tornado

Photograph of Stoughton tornado (via NWS)

By far the most significant tornado of the day developed at 6:15 p.m. 2.0 miles (3.2 km) north of Oregon near Fitchburg, or approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Madison proper. This large, intense tornado would track for 20.0 (32.2 km) miles into Jefferson County from Dane County. The unusually long-lived tornado travelled mostly east-southeasterly until just east of Stoughton where it began moving almost due easterly.

It passed through rural subdivisions and farms north of Stoughton at around maximum intensity and width of one-half mile (0.8 km), destroying or very heavily damaging 89 houses, heavily damaging 67 houses, with lighter damage to 84 more. Estimated damages for the homes and other damage is $44 million. One person was killed and 23 were injured, three seriously. Debris from the Stoughton area was found as far away as Waukesha and Milwaukee counties (two and three counties to the east). This tornado was rated a high-end F3 on the Fujita scale (an F4 rating was considered for it). Federal disaster assistance was requested but FEMA denied a federal disaster area declaration.

The tornado frequently changed in size and form and eventually became somewhat rain-wrapped after being highly visible; and finally lifted 2.2 miles (3.5 km) north of Busseyville at 6:21 p.m. after traveling 20.0 miles (32.2 km) in an exceptional 53 minutes of continuous track. Numerous other tornadoes occurred during and after this tornado (seven as part of the tornado family associated with the Stoughton supercell, with the last tornado lifting at 7:53 p.m.. Ft. Atkinson was hit three times.

One death was attributed to this tornado. Loss of life was likely minimized due to the efforts of the NWS, local spotters, and Dane County emergency managers. Tornado warnings were put out well in advance of the developing tornado, and TVS (Tornadic Vortex Signatures which NWS WSR88D doppler radar detects) were seen in the Oregon area in advance of the tornado's approach. Spotters maneuvered to the area of the TVS, and once confirmed, sirens were sounded.

Some confusion was caused due to an F0 Tornado occurring in a similar time frame in Dane County near Lodi, some mistakenly felt the danger had either passed, or was not threatening them.