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EF1 tornado in Marinette County, Wisconsin

Tornado August 19, 2011 · Marinette County, Wisconsin

EF1

Rating

7.9 mi

Whole path

250 yd

Path width

Death

$125K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Marinette County → Menominee County, Michigan → Marinette County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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 quickly developed northwest of the city of Wausaukee during the late afternoon and moved southeast for nearly eight miles before dissipating. The twister touched down near Long Lake, snapping or uprooting hundreds of trees (DI 28, DOD 3, 4) as it moved toward Wausaukee. A mobile home near Long Lake was heavily damaged by fallen trees, but the occupants escaped without injury. As the tornado moved into Wausaukee, it leveled another mobile home (DI 3, DOD 7), killing a 46 year old male. Two additional buildings on the property sustained damage, including a house that lost part of its roof (DI 2, DOD 4). Two semi-trailers on the property were blown over. The tornado continued southeast, damaging a baseball field and hundreds of additional trees on the east side of Wausaukee. The tornado reached the Menominee River and briefly crossed into Upper Michigan before moving back into Wisconsin and dissipating.

The tornado was rated EF1, with estimated maximum winds of 100 to 105 mph. The average path width was 100 yards.

The wider storm

A deadly tornado occurred in Marinette County in Wausaukee and isolated severe thunderstorms produced large hail and gusty winds across north-central Wisconsin. The storms knocked out electricity to 2,000 customers and caused at least $120,000 in damage.

Began near Wausaukee (45.4026, -87.9870).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 324661. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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