Tornado damage in state already in the millions of dollars… in February

Damage estimates have been released on the two tornadoes that touched down in southern Wisconsin last Thursday. The first ever to be recorded in the month of February in Wisconsin.

Officials said the tornadoes damaged 30 homes with a couple of them being destroyed, and killed some cattle. Initial numbers being reported are $2.4 million in damage, but this doesn’t include agricultural impacts to silos, barns, and equipment, said Kevin Wernet, director of Rock County Emergency Management.

The tornadoes formed in an environment not often seen in February as temperatures climbed into the upper 50s ahead of an approaching low pressure storm system.

A cluster of storms formed in northern Illinois and moved northeast into Wisconsin. One storm in particular really got its act together and created a meso cyclone, or an area of long-lived broad rotation within the storm. Its these meso cyclones that often produce tornadoes.

At 5:12 PM a tornado was confirmed on the ground in Green County one mile northwest of Juda along Highway 11 and tracked to the northeast to about two miles southeast of Albany. The National Weather Service rated this tornado an EF1 and said it was on the ground for 14 minutes and covered a distance of 8.35 miles.

As the storm continued, another tornado formed at 5:41 PM three miles south of Evansville. This tornado intensified to a strong EF-2 east of Evansville, tracked just north of Edgerton, and ended about three miles west of Fort Atkinson. The tornado covered an astonishing 24 1/2 miles tracking through Rock, Dane and Jefferson Counties for 36 minutes.

No injuries were reported with either tornado.