Severe Weather Awareness - Tornado Statistics

Wisconsin Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness

Part 2 - Tornado Statistics

In 2015, Wisconsin experienced 17 documented tornadoes. There were no fatalities or injuries associated with these tornadoes.

There have been 1554 documented tornadoes in Wisconsin since 1844, causing 511 directly related deaths and at least 3056 directly related injuries.

Data prior to 1950 is incomplete because in many cases, only large tornadoes were reported and many rural tornadoes went unreported.

**Wisconsin Tornado Occurrence by Month**
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
1844-2015	3	0	18	117	241	454	339	210	126	31	9	6	1554
2015	0	0	0	0	2	5	6	4	0	0	0	0	17

30 Year Normal (1981-2010) is 23 tornadoes per year in Wisconsin.

Year with greatest number of tornadoes - 2005 (62)
Year with least number of tornadoes - 1952 (1)

Recent Yearly Wisconsin Tornado Totals
1980 - 43	1981 - 21	1982 - 16	1983 - 31	1984 - 34
1985 - 16	1986 - 14	1987 - 16	1988 - 35	1989 - 17
1990 - 9	1991 - 10	1992 - 26	1993 - 37	1994 - 35
1995 - 7	1996 - 21	1997 - 14	1998 - 11	1999 - 11
2000 - 18	2001 - 12	2002 - 26	2003 - 14	2004 - 36
2005 - 62	2006 - 13	2007 - 18	2008 - 38	2009 - 16
2010 - 46	2011 - 38	2012 - 4	2013 - 16	2014 - 22
2015 - 17	2016 -	2017 -	2018 -	2019 -

The Average Wisconsin Tornado has a:
From 1950 through January 2008	From 1982 through January 2008
Duration - 9.8 minutes	Duration - 7.1 minutes
Path Length - 5.5 miles	Path Length - 3.7 miles
Maximum Width - 121 yards	Width - 118 yards
Intensity - 1.1 on EF Scale

Wisconsin's Worst Tornado occurred on June 12, 1899 in New Richmond in St. Croix County. This tornado killed 117 and injured 125, and destroyed over 300 buildings.

Other Costly Wisconsin Tornadoes include:

July 18, 1996 - Oakfield (Fond du Lac County): injured 12 with damage at 40.4 million in 1996 dollars. Tornado rated F5 east of Oakfield.
June 8, 1984 - Barneveld (Iowa County): killed 9 and injured 200 with damage at 40 million in 1984 dollars. Rated F5.

Other Statistics:

On average the number of days per year with thunderstorms in Wisconsin ranges from around 30 along the Lake Michigan shore to around 40 over the southwest third of the state.
Southwest Wisconsin near the Mississippi River averages about 1 day per year with a tornado. This average decreases to 0.7 days per year for the Madison area, 0.6 days per year for the Milwaukee area, 0.4 days per year for the Green Bay area, and 0.2 days per year for northern Wisconsin.
National Weather Service offices servicing Wisconsin issue on average 1 to 2 Tornado Warnings and 5 to 10 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings per county per year in the southern counties. The averages are less for the northern counties.
The National Weather Service in Wisconsin issues on average about 29 Severe Thunderstorm Watches per year that cover at least a part of Wisconsin. About 11 Tornado Watches are issued per year that cover at least a part of Wisconsin.

U.S. Tornado Statistics for the period 1982-2012:

1132 tornadoes per year
73 deaths per year
22 killer tornadoes per year

Annual U.S. Tornadoes for 1982-2015
Year	Tornadoes	Deaths	Killer Tornadoes
1982	1047	64	31
1983	812	34	26
1984	907	122	33
1985	684	94	20
1986	713	15	11
1987	656	59	14
1988	698	32	19
1989	856	50	13
1990	1133	53	17
1991	1127	39	15
1992	1297	39	16
1993	1173	33	16
1994	1085	68	23
1995	1234	29	14
1996	1173	25	13
1997	1148	67	22
1998	1417	130	33
1999	1300	95	29
2000	1071	40	14
2001	1216	40	23
2002	941	55	28
2003	1376	54	23
2004	1817 (record)	36	20
2005	1264	38	13
2006	1103	67	25
2007	1098	81	26
2008	1692	126	37
2009	1156	21	9
2010	1282	45	21
2011	1691	553	59
2012	938	70	22
2013	907	55	14
2014	888	47	14
2015	1252	34	13
2016

For more information about tornadoes, check out the Storm Prediction Center Online Tornado FAQ.