EF1 Tornado — Wood, Wisconsin

2011-05-22 · near Cranmoor, Wood, Wisconsin

Event narrative

The tornado moved out of Juneau County at 6:03 pm CDT (1703 CST) and moved east-northeast across southern Wood County. The storm hit a campground on the east shore of the Wisconsin River about three miles south of Nekoosa. Over 100 pine trees were snapped and uprooted on the campground, some two feet in diameter (DI 28 DOD 4). Several camper vehicles were damaged by fallen trees. The tornado was seen by campground visitors just before 6:15 pm. The tornado continued east-northeast and snapped or uprooted hundreds of additional trees south of Wisconsin Rapids. The storm damaged at least six homes and several other outbuildings about six miles south-southeast of Wisconsin Rapids. One of the houses lost the entire roof of a garage (DI 2, DOD 4). A woman in the garage at the time sustained injuries when the garage fell on the truck that she was taking shelter in. This area experienced high-end EF1 damage with winds at least 95 to 105 mph. The tornado entered Portage County at 6:20 PM CDT (1720 CST).

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms produced high winds, large hail, and a tornado across central and northeast Wisconsin on May 22, 2011. Unstable air combined with a surface boundary and an upper air disturbance to produce thunderstorms. Storms became severe during the afternoon and early evening, causing numerous incidents of large hail and isolated straight-line wind damage. A long-track tornado moved from western Wisconsin into the central part of the state, snapping or uprooting many hundreds of trees and damaging several buildings and farm equipment.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (44.2491, -89.9702)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 313784. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.