June 18, 2001 - Siren, WI, Tornado and Severe Weather Outbreak

Tornado:

Tornado - Siren Burnett/Washburn County, WI Date June 18, 2001 Time (Local) 8:06 to 8:51 PM CDT F Rating F-3 Est. Peak Winds 160-180 mph Path Length 30 miles Max Width 880 yards Injuries/Deaths 16/2 Summary: The tornado touched down at 806 pm local daylight time 1.5 miles east of Grantsburg and traveled east at an average speed of 40 mph through the village of Siren to the Washburn County line, then continued on to a point 3 miles west of Spooner. The path of the tornado averaged 1/8 to 1/4 mile in width, but reached its greatest width of ½ mile as it approached Siren around 820 pm, where it did F-3 damage. Two people were killed by the tornado, and there were 16 injuries. Four hundred homes were destroyed, 200 in Siren alone, with 280 homes damaged, and 60 businesses destroyed or damaged. Most of the damage occurred in an 8-block area of Siren. Approximately 14,000 acres of trees were leveled along the tornado path. The two people killed were in Dewey Township, about 14 miles east of Siren. An 80-year-old woman was crushed by a falling wall while trying to get to the basement, and a 77-year-old man was found dead about 100 yards from his demolished home, presumably thrown there by tornado-force winds. Many buildings in the path of the tornado through Dewey Township, including the Dewey Town Hall, were destroyed as well. Power lines, trees, and buildings were also damaged or destroyed at Alpha, Falun, and Mud Hen Lake along the path of the tornado between Grantsburg and Siren. Fifteen cows were lost when a barn collapsed near Falun. Some were killed outright. Others were injured and had to be put down. Track Map Downloadable KMZ File

Photos

Photographs of the damage in and around the town of Siren, Wisconsin.

Radar

KDLH Reflectivity Zoomed in on Siren	KDLH Velocity Zoomed in on Siren	Wider KDLH Reflectivity	Wider KDLH Velocity

Storm Reports

WWUS30 KDLH 190726
LSRDLH

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH, MN
226 AM CDT TUE JUN 19 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0806 PM    2 ENE GRANTSBURG          WI   TORNADO
06/18/01   BURNETT                        *** 2 DEAD, 16 INJ ***
                                          F3-THE TORNADO TRAVELLED
                                          EAST THROUGH
                                          ALPHA...FALUN...AND THEN
                                          THROUGH SIREN. THE TORNADO 
                                          TRAVELLED TO 14 MILES E OF 
                                          SIREN. THE MOST 
                                          EXTENSIVE DAMAGE WAS IN A 6
                                          BLOCK WIDE AREA IN SIREN
                                          WHERE NUMEROUS HOMES WERE
                                          LEVELLED WITH ADDITIONAL
                                          EXTENSIVE STRUCTURAL
                                          DAMAGE. AVERAGE WIDTH WAS
                                          1/8 TO 1/4 MILE...WIDEST
                                          WAS 1/2 MILE IN SIREN.
                                          ONE OTHER DEATH WAS 
                                          INDIRECT.

 
0818 PM    1 S WEBSTER               WI   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   BURNETT                        

0820 PM    5 W SIREN                 WI   TORNADO
06/18/01   BURNETT                        

0821 PM    5 E  GRANTSBURG           WI   WIND DAMAGE
06/18/01   BURNETT                        TREES DOWN

0826 PM    5 E WEBSTER               WI   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   BURNETT                        

0847 PM    8 E GRANTSBURG            WI   WIND DAMAGE
06/18/01   BURNETT                        HOUSES DESTROYED

0850 PM    12 E SIREN                WI   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   BURNETT                        

0852 PM    4 W SPOONER               WI   2.00 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   WASHBURN                       

0857 PM    SPOONER                   WI   1.50 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   WASHBURN                       

0910 PM    30 SE PARK FALLS          WI   .75 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   PRICE                          

0925 PM    SOLON SPRINGS             WI   .75 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   DOUGLAS                        

0926 PM    1 E STONE LAKE            WI   2.00 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   SAWYER                         

0958 PM    TREGO                     WI   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   WASHBURN                       

1135 PM    18 S PARK FALLS           WI   .75 INCH HAIL
06/18/01   PRICE                          

Environment

Upper air maps from the Storm Prediction Center.

7 AM CDT	7 PM CDT
No 7 AM Map Available
925 mb	925 mb
850 mb	850 mb
700 mb	700 mb
500 mb	500 mb
300 mb	300 mb
250 mb	250 mb

High resolution surface maps centered on the region.

12 PM CDT	1 PM CDT	2 PM CDT
3 PM CDT	4 PM CDT	5 PM CDT
6 PM CDT	7 PM CDT	8 PM CDT

Satellite Imagery

GOES-15 False Color Imagery from 0050z 06/19/2001 (20 minutes prior to the tornado hitting Siren)	GOES-8 Visible Imagery from 0125z 06/19/2001 (Just after the tornado moved through Siren)
Landsat Imagery from 05/18/2001	Annotated Landsat Imagery from 06/19/2001

2021: 20 Years Later

2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the Siren Tornado. Multiple improvements in NWS alerting have been implemented over the last 20 years along with advances in warning technology, namely dual-pol Doppler radar technology and an added lower-elevation scan on the KDLH radar. One improvement in particular has been the expansion of NOAA Weather Radio coverage across the area. While any signal covering the Siren area in 2001 was weak, two transmitters reliably cover Siren today. Additionally, technology in weather radios has advanced and SAME alert tones help to limit the alerts to a more focused area, reducing the area and population receiving the alert.

NWR Coverage Across Minnesota Circa July 1999 (A map showing Wisconsin coverage is unavailable)	NWR Coverage Across Wisconsin and Surrounding Areas (Coverage shown only from transmitters covering Wisconsin)

It should also be noted how invaluable Skywarn spotters and amateur radio operators were in tracking this storm across Burnett and Washburn counties. Forty spotters/radio operators observed either the tornado itself, wall clouds, funnel clouds and golf ball-sized hail. Additionally, three of the spotters' homes were damaged, with one losing a porch and two others trapped in their homes by falling trees. The role of spotters in this event was undoubtedly a large part of the excellent warnings and lead times. 

Finally, one of the forecasters working that event recalled that this storm was unlike any other he has seen in the Duluth CWA. He also recalled that coordination with the Twin Cities office was excellent ahead of the tornado as the storm moved out of their CWA and into the Duluth CWA.

Recollections

Family friends had a new double wide west of town. The only thing left of it was the bathroom they were hiding in. - Shannon S.

I live 7 miles east of Hayward and we had canceled checks in our yard from an address in Siren. - Tim S.

We found large pieces of steel, in our pasture and woods area, from the Siren tornado. We live in Trego, probably 30-40 miles away! - Jacki P.

It went just north of my parents house barely missed my grandparents house in Bashaw Township. We were picking steel and debris out of our hay fields the rest of that summer. The Shell Lake FFA chapter helped local farmers with clean up with fields in the area. That was the first tornado I had ever seen. - Brinna O.

I was coaching softball that night and due to the storm, drove kids home before it hit. I had one kid to drop off yet, when it hit. I was caught it it. We were driving by the school and were lucky enough to get in the school in the middle of it as it was hitting the school. We were safe. I went out after the storm and located the player's mother who rode the storm out in the Holiday gas station beer cooler. I then search house to house looking for people to help. I couldn't get to my house due to the damage so I slept in the school for the next 3 nights. - Ryan K.

I was in middle school and lived in town. I remember when the the scroll went across the screen and seeing Burnett County red and then the lights going out. We went downstairs into our basement and I remember my father coming down the stairs and telling us “I think this is really happening.” I remember sitting in our shower in the basement and the drain for the shower was like a vacuum. I remember hearing trees fall because all I could think about was me assuming it was our house getting destroyed but it turned out it was just are large trees getting destroyed (pretty sure that saved our house). We came upstairs after the storm passed and went outside and it looked like a bomb went off. Crazy, crazy night. - Jesse G.

I was in middle school at the time and me, my mom and dad and sister went to the Siren movie theater to watch the new Tomb Raider movie. I remember the worker running in and telling all everyone in the theater to get down there’s a tornado! We all thought it was just the movie playing. I also remember it getting super load then quiet for felt like the longest time and then loud again. One of the scariest moment I've been through. - Heather P.

I remember my husband and I drove down there the following morning. We had friends living about 2 miles east of town and was going to check on them. I think we detoured around the west side of town, it was unrecognizable!! Fortunately our friends were ok but out of services so we were able to let their kids know they were ok. Nothing in town would tell you it was Siren, a total, total mess. - Betty L.

We were playing a softball tournament in Siren, I think we were 7th or 8th grade. The skies got really dark and we were sent to the bus. Our team got together afterwards and did some clean up locally. - Rhiannon E.

I lived right in the center of town. I remember the wall cloud that day was a sight! Then the huge hail! No siren, no warning! The town of Siren, with no siren, as it was broken. Next my ears popped. Hopped under a mattress next to an interior wall, almost got sucked out when the outside wall got sucked off the building! I was up in the air hanging on for dear life! The whole town was unrecognizable after, and I've lived here my whole life! - Melissa R.

We live in the south end of town and were in our basement. We didn't know it was that bad until our daughter was brought home by her boss. She worked at the Dairy Queen and went through it in the freezer. She was crying saying Siren is gone. We went and looked and couldn't believe our eyes. Our daughter to this day has nightmares about tornadoes. - Carol M.

I was working at Karyln's Gallery in Washburn, WI that day--two hours north--but I can remember how windy it was, and the horrible color of the sky. It gave me the heeby-jeebies and I REALLY felt like we ought to get down the basement, but we couldn't since we were working. I heard about the tornado that night, and later my friends got up a clothing drive and drove the items down to Siren to help out. - Stephanie K.

I grew up 5 miles from Siren and I was working in Siren at a hotel that night. I was 18 years old and had just graduated from high school. It was the single most terrifying event in my life. I had tornado nightmares for YEARS. This t-shirt was our new work uniform after that night. - Holly S.

I had just gotten home (3 miles South of Earl) from work in Hayward at about 7:20pm. The rumbling to the west was constant, never letting up as I was doing my horse chores. I had let them all out including the mares and foals. I got on my computer (dial-up in those days) and checked Weather Underground's radar. There was a magenta blob near Grantsburg. I called my sister who lived in North Branch, MN, and asked what they were getting. She said it was all north in the background I could hear my BIL say as joke, "There's a tornado headed your way with the letter M on it." I turned on the radio station, my neighbor called, tornado on the ground 9 minutes out. Then the Shell Lake radio station went off air. I gathered the dogs and cats and headed for the basement while talking to a friend. I'm a weather geek have been my entire life. I COULD NOT STAY IN THE BASEMENT. I had to see... I was watching the storm from underneath my deck. I was going up and down the stairs checking, looking. My computer was on the 2nd story. Then I heard a loud bang and another and another on my steel roof. My first thought was debris. "We have debris!" I yelled to my friend on the phone. Except it wasn't debris, it was hail. Baseball sized hail! I was horrified for my horses especially my foals! I watched the hail hitting members of my adult herd and had to look away as there was nothing I could do for them now. After it had all passed, and I knew the horses were safe. I looked around, I did have debris. Insulation, tin, structural wood, and a smattering of baseball sized hail. None of the hail stones hit my vehicles or broke any windows. On the way to work the next morning there was debris all along Highway 63. Large pieces of tin scattered about. My work place in Hayward was covered in leaves. It had literally rained leaves there. I learned a whole bunch of things about tornadoes that I never knew due to this event. I now have a personal weather station and am a trained spotter. - Mary A.

Additional Links:

• NASA Earth Observatory
• The Siren Storm - USGS
• Meterological Overview of the Event
• Tornado Outbreak of June 18, 2001
• CIMMS Event Overview
• Storm Chaser/Researcher Account