The Menasha Tornado

We began the morning with light showers … as has been the case this season, the East Valley received more rain than the West Valley.

From here … the next 5-6 days?

Ok, it’s time for the nerdier side of me to come out.

I grew up in Northeast Wisconsin - spent time in every nook and cranny in the area. I was in Menasha just fourteen months ago. Yesterday morning the little voice in my head said “turn on Ryan Hall Y’all” … I checked YouTube, he wasn’t on, but his bot was on (click here), covering storms in Northeast Wisconsin.

At 11:53am local time, a tornado was on the ground in Appleton, as broadcast by the YallBot. I pulled out my WeatherWise app, looked at the radar from Green Bay, then pulled up the Hi-Res Velocity image. This is what I observed at 11:56am local time (the + characters are lightning strikes … also I grew up just miles from Saint Nazianz on the right side of the image).

I walked into my wife’s office, showed her the image, and said “I hope this isn’t on the ground because if it is it is a catastrophe”.

The tornado essentially walked its way down WI-47, the main north/south highway in the City of Menasha, crossed WI-114 (the main east/west highway in Menasha), then through a quirk in geography it moved into the open waters of Lake Winnebago, sparing the cities of Neenah and Oshkosh.

The tornado is currently measured as an EF-3 … with wind speeds of 136-165 miles per hour.

By the time Ryan Hall got on air, there was a giant debris ball (blue) hovering over Menasha.

Even an hour later 30-60 miles south, the storm was still spinning in the sky, with 70mph radar-measured winds.

Pressure differences caused by the tornado over Lake Winnebago caused what is called a “Meteotsunami” on the shoreline in Neenah.

Here is the legendary Reed Timmer, in the tornado on WI-441 between Appleton and Menasha (click here).

The EF-3 tornado was on the ground for about 12 miles, and was 8/10th of a mile wide.

There was only a 2% chance of a tornado in Northeast Wisconsin yesterday - no Tornado Watch, and the Tornado Warning was issued reasonably fast … the tornado touched down at 11:53am local time, with the warning issued at 11:59am. I’d almost guess that meteorologists couldn’t believe what they were seeing on radar, because if I could see it they could see it as well.

The people of Menasha are going to need some help. The Red Cross is accepting donations to help people impacted by the storm in Northeast Wisconsin.