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EF0 tornado in Kenosha County, Wisconsin

Tornado June 19, 2009 · Kenosha County, Wisconsin

EF0

Rating

1.2 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 weak EFO tornado spun up just west of the intersection of I-94 and CTH N. It moved just south of east and dissipated near the northwest runway of the Kenosha Airport. Damage was limited to uprooted trees and broken tree branches. Estimated maximum wind speeds were 56 to 61 knots (65-70 mph). Average path length was 20 yards. The compass bearing was 97 degrees. Starting and ending location were 42.60496/-87.95393 and 42.60291/-87.92993. DI#27(TH), DOD2.

The wider storm

The final in a series of upper level disturbances propagated northeastward across southern Wisconsin during the afternoon and evening of June 19th. This impulse, combined with strong upper level jet dynamics and a very moist, unstable atmosphere, allowed for storms to redevelop across southern Wisconsin. Bulk shear values of 50-60 kts, MLCAPE values near 2500 J/kg, and PW values near 1.8 allowed for a series of short thunderstorm lines to move through southern Wisconsin. The result was wind damage, a tornado in Kenosha County, and widespread flash flooding. Due to the heavy rainfall from earlier storms, some locations received 3 to almost 7 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. Flash flooding occured in Kenosha, Walworth, Waukesha, Milwaukee, and Racine counties.

Began near Kenosha Airport (42.6050, -87.9539).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 177282. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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