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F1 tornado in Washington County, Wisconsin
Tornado June 23, 2004 · Washington County, Wisconsin
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Fond Du Lac County → Washington County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
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 the National Weather Service wrote
This tornado (80-90 mph) was a continuation of the tornado that moved east-southeast from the area southwest of Campbellsport in southern Fond du Lac County. Originally this tornado was rated as F1 in Fond du Lac County, but after crossing the Washington/Fond du Lac County line near the intersection of Lake Bernice Dr. and St. Kilian Dr. it weakened to F0 status. It finally dissipated 1.5 miles northwest of Kewaskum, north of STH 28 and west of STH 45. Mainly light tree and crop damage was noted. Average path width was about 100 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 Kewaskum (43.5333, -88.2833).
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 5406594. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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