EF2 Tornado — Columbia, Wisconsin

2008-06-07 · near Pardeeville, Columbia, Wisconsin

Event narrative

This tornado was extremely wide since the thunderstorm cloud base was very low and the meso-cyclone that is usually aloft was well-formed all the way to the ground. Within a broad 1 to 2 mile wide area of EF0 to EF1 damage, there were several small swaths of EF2 damage due to multiple votices. The accompanying graphic shows this effect. With respect to residential homes this tornado resulted in very minor damage to 150, minor damage to 30, major damage to 10, and 2 were destroyed (total residential damage of $2 million). With respect to agricultural buildings ($500K in total damage), this tornado resulted in minor damage to 20, and major damage to 2 buildings (inlcuding silos). Tens of thousands of trees were uprooted or chewed-up, and many power-lines and power-poles were either toppled or damaged. About 4000 to 6000 trees on a tree farm were destroyed at a location about 3 miles east-southeast of Pardeeville. This tree-farm loss was treated as a crop loss. Additionally, some corn and soybean crops were damaged. This tornado started just southeast of the intersection of CTH P and Pardeeville Road, and moved southeastward for about 4 miles and then traveled east-southeast to end just northeast of the western intersection of STH 146 and CTH A. The specific starting point and ending point lat/long numbers were 43.53333/-89.26306 and 43.49556/-89.09878, respectively. Additional mid-point pairs of number include: 43.51603/-8922394, 43.50728/-89.20151, and 43.50208/-89.17679. DI#24 (ELT), DOD4. The wind speeds were estimated at about 120 mph. Average path length was about 1760 yards (1 mile).

Wider weather episode

A slow-moving surface boundary, nearly parallel with the mid-level flow affected southern Wisconsin during the period of June 7th through June 9th. A strengthening low-level jet and strong moisture advection produced several rounds of thunderstorms during the period in the vicinity of this boundary. The atmosphere was very moist with precipitable water values around 2 inches. Low to mid-level wind flow supported training of flood-producing thunderstorms. There was sufficient vertical wind shear to allow for supercell development that resulted in 10 tornadoes spinning up in south-central and southeast Wisconsin on June 7th. A weak cool front pushed through southern Wisconsin late on the 8th/early on the 9th, finally ending the heavy rainfall.

During the evening of June 7th, several roads near STH 89 south of Columbus were washed out. STH 16 east of Columbus closed on June 8th due to high waters. A state-of-emergency was declared in Milwaukee County the evening of June 7th due to widespread flash flooding, and Milwaukee Mitchell Field was close for several hours due to high water levels.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.5333, -89.2631)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 112904. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.