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EF1 tornado in Marathon County, Wisconsin

Tornado May 21, 2024 · Marathon County, Wisconsin

EF1

Rating

5.4 mi

Whole path

110 yd

Path width

$378K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Clark County → Marathon County → Clark County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 110 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado developed just southwest of the Village of Unity in Clark County (NWS La Crosse warning area) at 7:34 pm CDT. The tornado produced damage in the western portion of Unity before crossing Highway 13 into western Marathon County at 7:35 pm CDT while producing additional damage in the northeast side of Unity including damage to an outbuilding along County Highway P. The tornado continued to produce scattered tree damage as it tracked northeast across Chokecherry Road and Juneberry Road. The tornado lifted near Mulberry Road at 7:41 pm CDT with straight line winds continuing northeast to County Road N just southeast of Colby. Total path length is estimated to be 4.07 miles long, with a width of 110 yards. Peak wind estimated to be around 105 mph.

The wider storm

A line of thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front during the early evening on Tuesday (5/21) and tracked through much of northeast Wisconsin through the rest of the evening. Straight line winds produced wind damage along with 5 tornadoes.

Began near Colby (44.8498, -90.3160).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Door County EF1 Outagamie County EF1 Marathon County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1175037. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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