F3 Tornado — Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin

2004-06-23 · near Alto, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin

Event narrative

This tornado was a continuation of the tornado that moved through the southern part of the city of Markesan (Green Lake Co.). It entered Fond du Lac County just south of Lake Maria Road, about 4.7 miles SW of Alto. It moved east-southeast on a line toward Waupun at F3 strength (estimated 175-200 mph), and actually merged with the Lake Maria tornado that moved east out of extreme southeastern Green Lake County. The merger took place just east of a dogleg/bend of Oak Grove Rd., about 2.2 miles SSW of Alto. The civil Town of Alto reported that 19 residential homes had major damage and 1 was destroyed. One business had major damage. Fourteen farms were affected with a tally of 8 ag-buildings/homes with minor damage, 19 with major damage, and 16 destroyed. Crop damage was severe. Public sector damage (roads/bridges) was about $225K. In the city of Waupun (Fond du Lac side), 4 homes had major damage, and roughly 150 had minor roof/siding damage due to severe tree damage. Average path width was about 300 yards.

Wider weather episode

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).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.6333, -88.8500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5406514. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.