Updated - 650 pm Monday May 23rd
What's new - statewide graphic of tornado locations updated and details about 2 tornadoes in Green Lake County. Updated tornado count info below.
Documented Wisconsin tornado count for May 22nd.........4. Potential tornado count...........9 or more.
Documented Wisconsin 2011 tornado count through May 22nd......19. Potential 2011 tornado count.....28 or more.
Average annual Wisconsin tornado count for 1981-2010...........23.
A low pressure system passed through Minnesota into northern Wisconsin Sunday, May 22nd, dragging a cold front through the state. A strong jet stream aloft combined with a strong low-level jet stream about 5000 feet above the ground level to create strong wind shear that lead to supercell thunderstorms with embedded mesocyclone rotations. Several lines of strong to severe thunderstorms formed ahead of the cold front, beginning in the early afternoon and lasting until midnight Sunday night. While initially many of the storms were discrete cells, the storms eventually filled in over southern Wisconsin Sunday evening, producing a bow echo through far southeast Wisconsin. Tornadoes and hail were the main threats early on, with damaging straight line winds becoming the main threat with the development of the bow echo. We have provided the below graphics and statements detailing reports we have received thus far. Please note all these reports are preliminary and may change.
A damage survey in Green Lake County in conjunction with the Green Lake County Sheriff and the Green Lake County Emergency Management Director found evidence of two separate tornadoes in Green Lake County. Details follow......
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
341 PM CDT MON MAY 23 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
0745 PM TORNADO 2 SSW KINGSTON 43.67N 89.14W
05/22/2011 GREEN LAKE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
EF0 TORNADO SPUN UP AT AN ESTIMATED TIME OF 745 PM AND
LASTED LESS THAN 1 MINUTE. ESTIMATED WINDS OF 70 MPH.
THERE WAS DAMAGE TO LARGE TREE BRANCHES...A SHED DOOR AT
A FARM WAS PUSHED IN AND A PLASTIC GREENHOUSE WAS LIGHTLY
DAMAGED. PATH WIDTH OF 30 YARDS...PATH LENGTH 0.1 MILE.
INFORMATION FROM COUNTY SHERIFF AND NWS STORM SURVEY.
0750 PM TORNADO NW MARKESAN 43.71N 88.99W
05/22/2011 GREEN LAKE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
EFO TORNADO STARTED 0.3 MILES NW OF MARKESAN AND ENDED
4.5 MILES NNE OF MARKESAN. PATH WIDTH 50 YDS...PATH
LENGTH 4.7 MILES. TORNADO BEGAN AT 750 PM AND ENDED AT
757 PM. LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN. 2 SMALL TREES UPROOTED.
INFORMATION FROM COUNTY SHERIFF AND NWS SURVEY.
The NWS offices in La Crosse, Green Bay, Minneapolis, and Duluth are still conducting storm surveys. Their results will be posted in this news article during the next week or so.
Note: a very long-track tornado spun up in Monroe County northwest of Tomah on May 22, 2011, and moved northeast into southern Wood County and traveled through the area south of Wisconsin Rapids and then into southern Portage County and ended about 9 miles southeast of Plover. This track is on the order of 70 miles....one of the longest tornadoes in Wisconsin's recorded history. Preliminary results indicate that this tornado was the 15th longest tornado in Wisconsin. The longest-tracked tornado in Wisconsin was 170 miles in Pierce and Iron Counties on April 5, 1929. The 1929 tornado killed 12 people and injured 100 on a track from southwest of River Falls to the Van Buskirk area.
What we know for sure: two EF2 and two EF0 tornadoes occurred on May 22, 2011.
What's new - statewide graphic of tornado locations updated and details about 2 tornadoes in Green Lake County. Updated tornado count info below.
Documented Wisconsin tornado count for May 22nd.........4. Potential tornado count...........9 or more.
Documented Wisconsin 2011 tornado count through May 22nd......19. Potential 2011 tornado count.....28 or more.
Average annual Wisconsin tornado count for 1981-2010...........23.
A low pressure system passed through Minnesota into northern Wisconsin Sunday, May 22nd, dragging a cold front through the state. A strong jet stream aloft combined with a strong low-level jet stream about 5000 feet above the ground level to create strong wind shear that lead to supercell thunderstorms with embedded mesocyclone rotations. Several lines of strong to severe thunderstorms formed ahead of the cold front, beginning in the early afternoon and lasting until midnight Sunday night. While initially many of the storms were discrete cells, the storms eventually filled in over southern Wisconsin Sunday evening, producing a bow echo through far southeast Wisconsin. Tornadoes and hail were the main threats early on, with damaging straight line winds becoming the main threat with the development of the bow echo. We have provided the below graphics and statements detailing reports we have received thus far. Please note all these reports are preliminary and may change.
A damage survey in Green Lake County in conjunction with the Green Lake County Sheriff and the Green Lake County Emergency Management Director found evidence of two separate tornadoes in Green Lake County. Details follow......
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
341 PM CDT MON MAY 23 2011
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
0745 PM TORNADO 2 SSW KINGSTON 43.67N 89.14W
05/22/2011 GREEN LAKE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
EF0 TORNADO SPUN UP AT AN ESTIMATED TIME OF 745 PM AND
LASTED LESS THAN 1 MINUTE. ESTIMATED WINDS OF 70 MPH.
THERE WAS DAMAGE TO LARGE TREE BRANCHES...A SHED DOOR AT
A FARM WAS PUSHED IN AND A PLASTIC GREENHOUSE WAS LIGHTLY
DAMAGED. PATH WIDTH OF 30 YARDS...PATH LENGTH 0.1 MILE.
INFORMATION FROM COUNTY SHERIFF AND NWS STORM SURVEY.
0750 PM TORNADO NW MARKESAN 43.71N 88.99W
05/22/2011 GREEN LAKE WI LAW ENFORCEMENT
EFO TORNADO STARTED 0.3 MILES NW OF MARKESAN AND ENDED
4.5 MILES NNE OF MARKESAN. PATH WIDTH 50 YDS...PATH
LENGTH 4.7 MILES. TORNADO BEGAN AT 750 PM AND ENDED AT
757 PM. LARGE TREE BRANCHES DOWN. 2 SMALL TREES UPROOTED.
INFORMATION FROM COUNTY SHERIFF AND NWS SURVEY.
The NWS offices in La Crosse, Green Bay, Minneapolis, and Duluth are still conducting storm surveys. Their results will be posted in this news article during the next week or so.
Note: a very long-track tornado spun up in Monroe County northwest of Tomah on May 22, 2011, and moved northeast into southern Wood County and traveled through the area south of Wisconsin Rapids and then into southern Portage County and ended about 9 miles southeast of Plover. This track is on the order of 70 miles....one of the longest tornadoes in Wisconsin's recorded history. Preliminary results indicate that this tornado was the 15th longest tornado in Wisconsin. The longest-tracked tornado in Wisconsin was 170 miles in Pierce and Iron Counties on April 5, 1929. The 1929 tornado killed 12 people and injured 100 on a track from southwest of River Falls to the Van Buskirk area.
What we know for sure: two EF2 and two EF0 tornadoes occurred on May 22, 2011.