F2 tornado — Forest County, Wisconsin

F2 tornado in Forest County, Wisconsin

Tornado May 30, 1994 · Forest County, Wisconsin

Rating

12.0 mi

Path length

800 yd

Path width

Injuries

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

$50K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Severe thunderstorms raked west-central and northern Wisconsin with violent damaging winds up to 61 mph, hail up to tennis ball-size, and two tornadoes. A tornado set down just east of Woodville in St Croix County damaging eight farm dwellings and structures along its one-mile path causing $55,000 damage. Another tornado cut a 12-mile path from just southwest of Crandon to just north of Laona in Forest County causing $1 million damage. It destroyed three mobile homes, damaged or destroyed 25 homes and leveled 600 acres of timber. Three people were injured in a mobile home that was destroyed by the tornado. Widespread hail up to tennis ball-size fell over the Rhinelander area damaging hundreds of vehicles as well as roofs and windows. A severe thunderstorm with damaging winds knocked down about 3,000 trees and damaged several homes and cabins seven miles southeast of Seeley, Sawyer County.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10357881. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F2 tornado in Forest County, Wisconsin

What the National Weather Service wrote

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