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EF1 tornado in Winnebago County, Wisconsin

Tornado April 10, 2011 · Winnebago County, Wisconsin

EF1
Rating
14.9 mi
Whole path
150 yd
Path width
$1.5M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

The tornado that formed near Poy Sippi crossed into Winnebago County at 8:04 pm CDT (1904 CST). The tornado moved along the north shore of Lake Poygan, causing most of its damage near Boom Bay on the northeast shore. Two homes were heavily damaged as portions of their roofs were partially ripped off (DI 2, DOD 4). Several other houses sustained lesser damage in this area. In addition, two small mobile homes were rolled on their side (DI 3, DOD 5) and many trees were uprooted or snapped. The tornado dissipated about 2 miles west of Winchester, although damage occurred east and southeast of this location from straight-line thunderstorm winds. The average path width was 100 yards.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a cold front as it encountered moist and unstable air across Wisconsin.

A record number of tornadoes for April struck Wisconsin on April 10. Fifteen twisters affected the state as a strong spring storm moved across the western Great Lakes. In the National Weather Service Green Bay service area of northeast Wisconsin, ten tornadoes were reported, a record single-day outbreak for any month of the year.

In addition to the tornadoes, the lines of thunderstorms that developed produced plenty of straight line wind damage and large hail. Wind gusts, some estimated in the 80 mph to 100 mph range, downed numerous trees, damaged a small building, caused an injury and damage to two homes, toppled an 80-foot tall radio tower, threw a carport two houses away, and caused major damage to two industrial buildings. The largest hail reported was baseball size near Winneconne in Winnebago County.

Began near Lake Poygan (44.1612, -88.8855).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 285306. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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