US Tornado Season 2026

[Astronuc]

Menasha and Appleton, Wisconsin were hit yesterday, July 25, by an EF-2 tornado. Many structures (home, buildings, silos, . . . ) were destroyed or heavily damaged. Menasha straddles the border of Winnebago and Calumet counties, while Appleton is located in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, about 90 miles (140 km) NNW of Milwaukee, or about 31 miles (49.7 km) SW of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

https://www.postcrescent.com/story/...damage-after-tornado-storm--live/91069036007/

Significant damage was left in Menasha, Grand Chute, Appleton and Doty Island as the strong storm cell made its way across the area.

The National Weather Service said Menasha received at least EF-2 tornado damage, which means wind gusts were between 111 and 135 mph.

Menasha Mayor Austin Hammond declared a local state of disaster due to the widespread damage in the city.

Spotters, video and radar confirmed a tornado struck the northern end of Lake Winnebago as the warning was first issued.

The tornado warning for Appleton expired at 12:45 p.m. as the storm weakened and no longer appeared to be capable of producing tornadoes. Hail up to 2 inches wide was also confirmed.

Shortly after the warning in Appleton expired, the weather service issued a tornado warning for Fond du Lac and Dodge County that expired at 1:45 p.m. It was Dodge County's second tornado warning of the day.

Wisconsin tornado causes extensive damage and cuts power to thousands of homes
https://abc7news.com/post/wisconsin...s-appleton-menasha-winnebago-county/19590344/

‘Extremely dangerous’ tornado rips roofs off homes and knocks out power for thousands in northeast Wisconsin
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/27/weather/wisconsin-tornado-great-lakes-midwest-severe-storms-climate

https://abcnews.com/US/destructive-...onsin-leaving-trail-damage/story?id=135129826

The most destructive tornado, confirmed by the NWS, touched down south of Appleton, Wisconsin, in Outagamie County southwest of Green Bay. The tornado moved through the cities of Neenah and Oshkosh, in Winnebago County.

At least three other tornadoes were reported on Monday in Wisconsin and Illinois, but have yet to be confirmed by the National Weather Service (NWS).

One local estimate put the damage as caused by an EF-3 tornado.
https://www.postcrescent.com/story/...ut-damage-tornado-path-ef-rating/91073744007/

https://www.accuweather.com/en/seve...-storms-leave-thousands-without-power/1916035

Grapefruit-sized hail was reported in Gresham, Wisconsin. Dozens of other reports described hail ranging from quarter-sized to egg-sized across Wisconsin and Illinois.

A powerful line of storms knocked out power to nearly 400,000 customers from Wisconsin to Ohio by Monday evening.

Outages climbed to more than 130,000 in Wisconsin. Nearly 250,000 ComEd customers in Illinois were without power as of early Monday afternoon, a company spokesperson told WBBM Radio.

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/tornadoes/

Where is Tornado Alley?

Tornado Alley is a nickname invented by the media to refer to a broad area of relatively high tornado occurrence in the central United States. Various “Tornado Alley” maps look different because tornado occurrence can be measured many ways: by all tornadoes, tornado county-segments, strong and violent tornadoes only, and databases with different time periods.

However, the idea of a “tornado alley” can be misleading. The U.S. tornado threat shifts from the Southeast in the cooler months of the year, toward the southern and central Plains in May and June, and the northern Plains and Midwest during early summer. Tornadoes can occur and have been reported in all fifty states!

When are tornadoes most likely?

Tornado season usually refers to the time of year the U.S. sees the most tornadoes. The peak “tornado season” for the southern Plains (e.g., Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas) is from May into early June. On the Gulf coast, it is earlier in the spring. In the northern Plains and upper Midwest (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota), tornado season is in June or July. But, remember, tornadoes can happen at any time of year. Tornadoes can also happen at any time of day or night, but most tornadoes occur between 4–9 p.m.

Even without a tornado, microbursts of high winds from heavy downpour, as well as the downpour itself, can cause severe damage to trees and light structures. Downed power lines are another consequence.

In the NE US in the Mid Hudson Valley, there were severe localized thunderstorms that produced high winds and heavy rain on July 4. About 250,000 people were without power, some for as long as 3 to 4 days. There have been recent tornado watches, and the region is not considered tornado alley, but tornadoes have been recorded in E New York into Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

https://www.wcax.com/2026/06/19/2-ef-1-tornadoes-confirmed-vermont-thursdays-severe-storms/ - June 19, 2026
https://www.tornadopath.com/vermont (July appears to be peak month, June 2nd, and May and August about the same in terms of tornado frequency).
https://data.burlingtonfreepress.com/tornado-archive/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes_in_Massachusetts#1900_–_1999

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Connecticut_tornadoes#2000–present

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I'm about an hour south in Milwaukee. We had a small tornado reported by the airport tower back in April.

 

[Astronuc]

According to some diagrams, the tornado started as an EF-1 over Appleton then proceeded south through Menasha by which time it had achieved EF-3 status. It proceeded south over Lake Winnebago where it produced a water spout.

https://fox11online.com/good-day-wi...appleton-wisconsin-road-closures-power-outage

The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado that struck Menasha was an EF-3 Tuesday morning.

The tornado was 1,500 yards wide and traveled 12.1 miles with 140 mph wind speeds.

 

[robphy]

My colleague at a university in Appleton said that that parts of the town to the west of campus suffered some damage, but the campus was okay.

 

[Astronuc]

Guardian, Weather tracker: Wisconsin hit by rare tornado and meteotsunami​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/weather-tracker-wisconsin-battered-rare-084026289.html

A rare and powerful tornado developed over north-east Wisconsin on Monday, lasting 26 minutes and carving a 12-mile path of destruction in western parts of Appleton and Menasha before dissipating over Lake Winnebago.

The US National Weather Service classified the tornado as an EF3, making it the fourth of that strength to strike Wisconsin in 2026. EF3 tornadoes are relatively rare in north-east Wisconsin, and this year's total is already the state's highest since 1984.

Despite widespread damage and several homes being destroyed, only a few injuries were reported. This is partly because the tornado struck during the afternoon, when people were at work.

Another rare weather phenomenon was reported nearby on Lake Winnebago: a meteotsunami. Unlike ordinary sea or lake waves, meteotsunamis are caused primarily not by the wind but by air pressure disturbances, usually associated with severe thunderstorms.

I believe the correct term is 'seiche'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiche

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/seiche.html

 

[256bits]

They put swimming pools on the top of high rise buildings, for the view. So far safe.

In an earthquake, the water will slosh back and forth if the building sway frequency matches the resonant slosh frequency of the pool water. Instances where the seige in the pool is so severe, the wave violently overflows the pool and cascades down the side of the building. I do not think anyone has been caught and tossed over the side yet, but one day .... Eeek/

A meteotsunamis would be like a belly flop into the pool from the diving board. In this case, the pressure above the water is temporarily increased at the local belly flop location, depressing the water level, causing a wave travelling outwards to the edges of the pool. People will bob up and down as the wave passes by.

Perhaps the wave action from a power boat slowly passing by is much like a series of meteotsunamis, where the disturbance of the water is continuous . At a dock the other day with a boat passing by. The dock followed the wave action, and became quite unstable, if one is not used to standing on a moving platform. When the waves hit the shore, they did the normal tsunamis thing by travelling up the embankment. Several mini tsunamis in succession for small creatures at the shoreline.

 

[Zaciekawiony]

The researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the National Severe Storms Laboratory estimated the winds of 23 April tornado in Enid. be above the threshold of EF5 intensity, with winds greater than 205 mph (330 km/h).
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=1331794
This is another case showing that tornado classification is imperfect and that the cause of the "F5 drought" is the way wind strength limits are set for a given type of damage. For the most common types of damage, such as complete ripping of a house off its foundation, the wind gust speed was set so low that it is now necessary to use calculation methods for damage that are not included in the list of EF category indicators.