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EF2 tornado in Clark County, Wisconsin

Tornado December 15, 2021 · Clark County, Wisconsin

EF2
Rating
5.9 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
$260K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Jackson County → Clark County → Clark 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 EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This EF2 tornado developed southwest of Sidney and moved northeast across a heavily wooded area of southwest Clark County. Thousands of trees were damaged and one home was destroyed near Five Mile Creek.

The wider storm

An intense storm system moved across the Upper Midwest on December 15th and produced a rare severe weather outbreak across western Wisconsin. Eight tornadoes occurred across parts of Trempealeau, Jackson and Clark Counties. Four of these tornadoes were rated EF2 and three EF1. The most substantial damage from the EF2 tornadoes occurred in Clark County. One tornado destroyed a home in the southwest corner of the county near Five Mile Creek west of Neillsville (Clark County). Another tornado caused extensive damage to farms and trees after moving through Stanley (Chippewa County) into the northwest corner of Clark County. An EF0 tornado passed through Perrot State Park (Trempealeau County) and damaged several homes on the west edge of Trempealeau (Trempealeau County). The other tornadoes largely moved through rural areas damaging trees, power lines and farm buildings. Because of the severe weather threat, the Rotary Lights display in La Crosse (La Crosse County) was closed for the first time in over 26 years where two temporary structures were destroyed.

Began near Sidney (44.5110, -90.7491).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 995280. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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