Weather Event #17-June 6 Wisconsin Tornadoes

Three tornadoes developed across south-central Wisconsin on Tuesday, June 6. Wind profiles and instability were not particularily impressive, as indicated in the forecast for the day; but they proved to be adequate and with low LCL heights (small temperature-dewpoint spreads resulting in lower cloud bases) tornadoes were able to develop. The Columbia County tornado was quite large and long-lived and its F1 rating may be an underestimate of its true strength, especially if it did not encounter any well-constructed/well-anchored buildings.

NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI
Doug Raflik's chase pictures: 1 2 3
Scott Weberpal's chase pictures: 1 2 3

I took these pictures of a cumulonimbus cloud looking north from my neighborhood at about the time a tornado was reported unroofing a house near Waunakee. This tornado was not confirmed, so the damage may have been caused by straight-line thunderstorm winds.




































































As as aside, Stoughton's EMS must be paranoid after last August 18th. They blew the sirens twice Tuesday night; once for each tornado warning issued for Dane County, even though neither storm remotely threatened the Stoughton area.