State of Emergency Declared after Fox Valley Tornado

Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency for area in the Fox Valley and The National Weather Service has upgraded the rating on Monday’s tornado an EF2 to an EF3. The EF scale rates tornadoes on wind speed and their destructive power, ranging from 65 mph (EF0, or weak) to over 200 mph (EF5, catastrophic).

An EF3 tornado has winds of 136 to 165 mph and is capable of removing roofs and sometimes walls from well-constructed houses, lifting and tossing heavy cars, uprooting most of the trees in a forested area, and overturning trains.

This tornado lasted 26 minutes from the time it touched down north of Wisconsin Ave. in Appleton, where several businesses lost their roof.

It continued for 12.1 miles and was 1,500 yards wide at its widest point.

The heaviest damage was near Highway 10 in Menasha, where several businesses were heavily damaged and a house was destroyed.

The tornado then went south over Lake Winnebago, breaking up at 12:22 p.m.

The storm had peak winds of 140 miles per hour.