National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

COSTLIEST  TWISTERS  IN  WISCONSIN

(1844 - 2005)

   
DATE            COUNTY(IES)          DAMAGE CODE     DAMAGE AMOUNT
				   (Property/Crop)      (Known)

7/18/1996    Fond Du Lac (Oakfield)                  $40.4 mil

6/7-8/1984   Iowa-Dane (Barneveld)        7/6         $40.0 mil

8/18/2005    Dane (Stoughton)             7/6         $34.3 mil

6/17/1992    Dane (Belleville/McFarland)  7/6         $18.0 mil

4/27/1984    Oneida-Vilas                 7/0         $15.8 mil

4/04/1981    Washington (West Bend)       7/0         $12.9 mil

8/29/1992    Waushara                     7/5        >$10.0 mil

8/23/1998    Door County                              $6.5 mil

8/12/1985    Wood                         7/6         $6.2 mil

6/05/1977    Fond Du Lac-Dodge-Waukesha   7/-        >$6.0 mil

7/30/1977    Chippewa                     7/-         $6.0 mil

6/08/1985    Price-Oneida                 7/6         $6.0 mil

3/27/1991    Green-Rock-Dane-Jefferson    7/0        >$5.0 mil


The following are tornadoes that had codes but no given dollar amount:

6/04/1958    St. Croix-Dunn               7/4         $5 mil-$50 mil 

9/09/1884    St.Croix-Barron-Polk         6/1         $500,000-$5 mil

6/12/1899    St. Croix (New Richmond)     6/1         $500,000-$5 mil

This is a preliminary listing of the costliest twisters in Wisconsin history. The data was compiled by NWS Meteorologist Bob McMahon from the StormData publication and from the Wisconsin Tornado Database compiled by Geographic Techniques in Madison, Wi.

Prior to August 1994, the damage statistics for each event were given a numerical code that was associated with a range of monetary damages. These ranges were rather broad, ie. 6 is the code for damage that ranged from $500,000 to $4,999,999! Included in this summary are those events that rated a 7 on the damage scale, or tied or exceeded 6 million dollars.

Also, these ranges are not normalized to a particular year's value of the American dollar. Clearly this makes the Barneveld Tornado of 1984 the most expensive twister to track across Wisconsin. Additionally, the St.Croix/Polk tornado of 1884 and the New Richmond Tornado of June 12, 1899 were included based on the assumption that the extensive damage would be quite costly if they occured in the 20th century. Even though the New Richmond Tornado only rated a 6 on the scale, over 3000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. This event would obviously rank higher in the damage value standings when viewed in current dollars.