...TORNADO AND SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK IS APRIL 20-24...
...TODAY/S TOPIC IS...PART 4...TORNADO STATISTICS...
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IN 2008...WISCONSIN HAD 38 DOCUMENTED TORNADOES. THESE TORNADOES DID
NOT RESULT IN ANY FATALITIES...BUT DID RESULT IN 20 DIRECTLY-RELATED
INJURIES.

THERE HAVE BEEN 1394 DOCUMENTED TORNADOES IN WISCONSIN SINCE
1844...CAUSING 510 DIRECTLY-RELATED DEATHS AND AT LEAST 3021
DIRECTLY-RELATED INJURIES.  DATA PRIOR TO 1950 IS INCOMPLETE BECAUSE
IN MANY CASES...ONLY LARGE TORNADOES WERE REPORTED AND MANY RURAL
TORNADOES WENT UNDETECTED.

THE FOLLOWING ARE WISCONSIN TORNADO OCCURRENCES BY MONTH...

          J   F   M   A   M   J   J   A   S   O   N   D  TOTAL
1844-2008 3   0  18  98 223 412 294 181 124  29   6   6   1394
Only 2008 2   0   0   2   3  22   9   0   0   0   0   0     38

30 YEAR NORMAL /1971-2000/  ...21 TORNADOES PER YEAR IN WISCONSIN.

THE YEAR OF 2005 HAD THE GREATEST STATE TOTAL WITH 62 TORNADOES.
OTHER YEARLY WISCONSIN TOTALS INCLUDE...

1980...43 1981...21 1982...16 1983...31 1984...34
1985...16 1986...14 1987...16 1988...35 1989...17
1990...09 1991...10 1992...26 1993...37 1994...35
1995...07 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

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THE FOLLOWING ARE STATISTICS FOR THE AVERAGE TORNADO IN WISCONSIN
FROM 1950 THROUGH JANUARY 2008...

DURATION....9.8 MINUTES
LENGTH......5.5 MILES
MAX WIDTH...121 YARDS
INTENSITY...1.1 ON THE EF-SCALE

THE FOLLOWING ARE STATISTICS FOR THE AVERAGE TORNADO IN WISCONSIN
FROM 1982 THROUGH JANUARY 2008...

DURATION...7.1 MINUTES
LENGTH.....3.7 MILES
WIDTH......118 YARDS
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...WISCONSIN`S WORST TORNADO...
     NEW RICHMOND /ST. CROIX COUNTY/ TORNADO ON JUNE 12 1899...
     KILLING 117...INJURING 125...AND DESTROYING OVER 300 BUILDINGS.

...OTHER COSTLY WISCONSIN TORNADOES INCLUDE...
     OAKFIELD /FOND DU LAC COUNTY/ TORNADO ON JULY 18 1996...INJURING
     ONLY 12 WITH DAMAGE PEGGED AT 40.4 MILLION DOLLARS /1996
     DOLLARS/. IT BECAME A F5 TORNADO EAST OF OAKFIELD.

     BARNEVELD/IOWA COUNTY/ TORNADO ON JUNE 8 1984...KILLED 9 AND
     INJURING 200 WITH WITH DAMAGED PEGGED AT 40 MILLION DOLLARS
     /1984 DOLLARS/. THIS WAS AN F5 TORNADO.

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...NUMBER OF THUNDERSTORM DAYS IN WISCONSIN...
ON AVERAGE...THE NUMBER OF DAYS PER YEAR WITH THUNDERSTORMS RANGES
FROM AROUND 30 ALONG THE LAKE MICHIGAN SHORELINE TO AROUND 40 OVER
THE SOUTHWEST THIRD OF THE STATE.

...NUMBER OF TORNADO DAYS IN WISCONSIN...
IN THE TORNADO DEPARTMENT...SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN NEAR THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER AVERAGES ABOUT 1 DAY PER YEAR WITH A TORNADO. THIS
AVERAGE DECREASES DOWN TO 0.7 DAYS PER YEAR FOR THE MADISON AREA...
0.6 TORNADO DAYS PER YEAR FOR MILWAUKEE AREA...0.4 DAYS PER YEAR
FOR THE GREEN BAY AREA...AND 0.2 TORNADO DAYS PER YEAR FOR NORTHERN
WISCONSIN.

...NUMBER OF WARNINGS PER YEAR IN WISCONSIN...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICES THAT SERVICE WISCONSIN ISSUE...ON
AVERAGE...ONLY 1 TO 2 TORNADO WARNINGS AND 5 TO 10 SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS PER COUNTY PER YEAR FOR THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
THE AVERAGES ARE LESS FOR NORTHERN WISCONSIN COUNTIES.

...NUMBER OF WATCHES PER YEAR IN WISCONSIN...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WISCONSIN ISSUES ON AVERAGE ABOUT
29 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES PER YEAR THAT COVER AT LEAST SOME PART
OF WISCONSIN. THE NUMBER FOR TORNADO WATCHES IN WISCONSIN IS ABOUT
11 PER YEAR.

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THE U.S. NATIONAL AVERAGES FOR THE PERIOD 1982-2008...
     ...1120 TORNADOES PER YEAR
     ...59 DEATHS PER YEAR
     ...21 KILLER TORNADOES PER YEAR

YEAR-BY-YEAR BREAKDOWN FOR U.S. FOR 1982-2008 FOLLOWS...

    YEAR        TORNADOES         DEATHS           KILLER TORNADOES
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    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          1819               36                   20
    2005          1264               38                   13
    2006          1103               67                   25
    2007          1098               81                   26
    2008          1691              126                   37
/TOTAL OF 1819 IN 2004 IS AN ALL-TIME YEARLY RECORD/

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TORNADOES...PLEASE REFER TO:

http://spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/pagelist.htm

FOR ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION...UP TO DATE FORECASTS...
AND ANY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES PLEASE VISIT:

http://weather.gov/mkx

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