Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rainfall in the Southern Plains; Heat Continues in the West

Strong to severe thunderstorms may bring areas of excessive rainfall and flooding over parts of the southern Plains today through Friday. Hot to dangerously hot temperatures are forecast across portions of the Pacific Northwest and southern Great Basin today. Gusty winds, dry, and hot conditions will bring critical fire weather to parts of central Washington state today. Read More >

Overview

During the evening of May 16, 2017, thunderstorms developed near a warm front that was slowly pushing north across Wisconsin. The storms produced high winds, large hail, and at least two tornadoes in the state. A large supercell thunderstorm produced a long-track tornado across the western part of Wisconsin, killing one person near Chetek and injuring 25 others.

Several storms in central and north-central Wisconsin produced damaging winds and hail. A weak tornado uprooted at least 1000 trees south of Rhinelander near the Oneida/Langlade County line. The same thunderstorm produced 2 inch diameter hail near Pelican Lake.

Please click on the tabs below for more information.

Tornado
Damage Photos
Storm Reports
Radar Imagery

Tornado Information

Tornado - Oneida County

Date	May 16, 2017
Time (Local)	8:12 PM
EF Rating	EF0
Est. Peak Winds	85 mph
Path Length	1/3 mile
Max Width	175 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0 / 0
Summary: A brief tornado developed in association with a supercell thunderstorm over far southern Oneida County.

Track Map

Tornado location

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Damage Photo

Here is an image from drone footage of the tornado damage. Click photo for a larger image.


Tornado moved left to right (west-east) in the picture. Damage was just north of Highway Q.

Storm Reports

Here is a map of the reported severe weather on May 16.

The largest hail reported was 2 inches in diameter near Pelican Lake. The storm that produced the hail was the same cell that produced the tornado in southern Oneida County.

Radar Imagery

Here is a radar image (reflectivity and velocity) of the supercell storm that produced the tornado shortly after 8:10 PM.

Radar

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.

GRB RSS Feed

Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rainfall in the Southern Plains; Heat Continues in the West

Severe Thunderstorms and Tornado Hit North-Central Wisconsin