A statewide check of tornadoes for the year after Monday's EF-3 tornado in Menasha
The week started stormy with severe weather rolling through the eastern half of Wisconsin. The Appleton/Menasha area saw a strong tornado around the midday hours Thursday. No other tornadoes have been reported from Monday. The tornado started in Appleton at 11:56 AM then strengthened to EF-3 strength with 140 mph peak winds in Menasha before dissipating over Lake Winnebago around 12:22 PM. The tornado was on the ground for 26 minutes and covered a distance of 12.1 miles. At its widest point, the tornado was just under a mile wide and was completely wrapped in rain. Incredibly, zero deaths and no major injuries have been reported.
The Menasha/Appleton tornado is the 43rd tornado of the year across the state of Wisconsin. Two Mondays ago we also saw severe weather in northern Wisconsin which resulted in three tornadoes there. The Menasha EF-3 tornado is now our fourth EF-3 tornado across the state this year which is the most at that strength or stronger since 1984.
The 43 tornadoes for the year is also now tied with 1980 for the fourth most on record. The average tornadoes during a year is 23. The record is 61 tornadoes which happened in 2005. Two years ago in 2024 saw more tornadoes than this year so far with 45.
All four of the EF-3 tornadoes in Wisconsin so far this year have happened outside of our local area. The last time southeast Wisconsin saw an EF-3 tornado was in 2008 when we had one during the month of January in Kenosha County. The last EF-4 locally was in the Wales/Delafield area in 1984 but we've had an EF-5 more recently than that in Oakfield in 1996.
The rainfall we picked up on Monday was very beneficial for most of Wisconsin after a year dry start to July. The first 26 days of July only saw 0.16" of rain in Milwaukee but then Monday saw record daily rainfall with 1.75".
Despite the soaking rain on Monday, we are still below average for the month of July in Milwaukee. Average rainfall going into the last few days of the month would be over 3" and Milwaukee is currently sitting at 1.91" of rain for the month, well over an inch below-average.
We needed a few days after Monday's severe storms to dry out and help with the cleanup efforts and we have certainly see that with lots of sunshine Tuesday and Wednesday and again on Thursday. Friday will see rain return to the state and stay with us through Saturday with likely levels of rain expected. Thankfully, this time it comes without the threat for severe storms.
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