F2 tornado in Marquette County, Wisconsin
Tornado June 23, 2004 · Marquette County, Wisconsin
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
A strong tornado spun up about a half-mile east of Interstate 39/STH 51, near the intersection of Fawn Ct. and CTH M, or 3.5 NNW of Packwaukee. This tornado increased to F2 strength (estimated 140-150 mph) as it tore east/southeast through the southern part of Montello. Numerous trees were uprooted. Four homes were destroyed, 25 sustained major damage, and 142 had minor damage. In addition, 9 agricultural buildings were damaged or destroyed. The tornado ended in a swampy, Fox River bottom-land area about 4 miles southeast of Montello (1 mile short of the county line and south of CTH C and east STH 22). The responsible supercell also spun up a different tornado earlier in Adams County. Prop damage estimated at $1.0 M. Average path width was about 175 yards.
The wider storm
Two rounds of severe weather affected parts of south-central and southeast Wisconsin on June 23rd, with the second round featuring 8 tornadoes, large hail (up to golf-ball size), and powerful straight-line downburst winds. A warm front moving north through the area resulted in favorable vertical wind shear to allow for supercell development.The 1st round of severe weather was due to a broken line of intense thunderstorms moving across Walworth, Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. Hail of up to 1 inch in diameter and torrential rainfall accompanied these storms before they moved over Lake Michigan and weakened. The 2nd round of severe weather was dominated by 2 cyclic supercells - one moved east/southeast through Marquette, Green Lake, Fond du Lac, and Washington Counties, spinning up 5 separate tornadoes, dumping hail stones up to 3 inches in diameter, and hurricane-force downburst winds. The large hail dented several vehicles. Two of these were rated F3. Refer to the individual tornado reports for more details. A more southerly supercell tracked across extreme southern Sauk County and then made a partial right turn and headed southeast through Dane County, spinning up 2 tornadoes in the process, as well as large hail and downburst winds. One powerful downburst wind in Madison (Dane Co.) blew equipment off the roof of a business at the Midvale Shopping Mall. A semi southwest of Ft. Atkinson was blown over by straight-line wind gusts. This southern supercell eventually spun up another tornado in south-central Jefferson County which moved into north-central Walworth County. Refer to the individual tornado reports for more details.Both supercells had downbursts that generated large hail and powerful, hurricane-force winds north and south of their tracks. Over all of Wisconsin, 16 tornadoes were documented on June 23rd, which is the 4th highest single-day total (record is 24 on May 8, 1988). For south-central and southeast Wisconsin, the 8 tornadoes on June 23rd was tied for the 4th highest single-day total (record is 11 on May 8, 1988).
Began near Packwaukee (43.8167, -89.4833).
Other tornadoes from the same storm system
7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5406442. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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