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Winter tornadoes are almost unheard of, especially in northern states.
In spite of the rarity, a tornado touched down in Wisconsin on Thursday, the first ever recorded for the state in February. It tore through mostly rural areas. It came on a day that broke records for warmth, setting up the perfect scenario for the type of severe weather normally seen in the late spring and summer. While this is the first-ever February tornado in Wisconsin since records have been kept, the state has seen three during January. The most recent January tornado was in 2008, according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado was spotted just south of Madison between Evansville and Edgerton and dissipating in southwest Jefferson County, just west of Fort Atkinson. The tornado was part of a storm across southern Wisconsin and the Midwest that resulted in strong winds, lightning, and hail. At one point the lightning was coming straight down causing temporary power outages in some areas. Winter tornadoes are likely to be stronger and stay on the ground longer with a wider swath of destruction in a warming world, a 2021 study showed. February is the only month that had never previously had a confirmed tornado in Wisconsin. The weather service dispatched teams across the path of the storm on Friday to determine how many tornadoes there were and at what severity.
