Tornado outbreak of June 7–8, 1984

1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin tornado outbreak

F5 tornado damage in Barneveld, Wisconsin (Courtesy of NWS Milwaukee)
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	June 7–8, 1984
Tornadoes confirmed	46
Max. rating1	F5 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	~12 hours
Fatalities	13 deaths, 322 injuries
Damage	$40 million in Wisconsin alone (1984 USD)
Areas affected	Midwestern United States
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

The 1984 Barneveld, Wisconsin tornado outbreak is a significant severe weather and tornado event that took place across the central United States from North Dakota to Kansas on June 7–8, 1984. The tornado outbreak produced several significant tornadoes including an F5/EF5 tornado which traveled through Barneveld, Wisconsin in the early hours of June 8, 1984. The entire outbreak killed at least 13 people across three states including 9 in Barneveld alone.

Meteorological synopsis

A low pressure system entered the Midwestern United States on June 7, 1984 and intensified while bringing a surge of moist and humid air coming from the Gulf of Mexico. After most of the affected areas were hit by a Mesoscale Convective Complex earlier during the morning of June 7, the unstable atmosphere, as well as wind shear and high CAPE values produced a favorable environment for the development of extensive severe weather with possible tornadoes. Starting at around mid-afternoon, it started to produce several tornadoes across southern Minnesota and northwestern and southern Iowa including three F3s and a long-track F4 which traveled over 130 miles from extreme northern Missouri to southwest of Iowa City. That tornado killed 3 people including one in Missouri's Harrison County. Another person was killed in Ringgold County in Iowa by an F2 tornado at around 9:00 PM CDT. Activity continued through the overnight hours as a new cluster of storms developed across Wisconsin near the Iowa and Illinois borders and produced strong tornadoes including the Barneveld tornado up until the early morning hours of June 8, 1984 before dissipating.

Straight-line winds in excess of 100 mph and very large hail were also reported in eastern Iowa from the storm that went on to drop the tornado in Barneveld, Wisconsin.

Tornadoes confirmed

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

FU	F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	4	13	23	4	1	1	46

Confirmed tornadoes - June 7–8, 1984
F#	Location	County	Time (CST)	Path length	Damage
Iowa
F1	SW of Kingsley	Woodbury, Plymouth	1445	7 miles (11.2 km)
F2	W of Cherokee	Cherokee	1514	10 miles (16 km)
F2	N of Galva	Ida	1542	16 miles (26.6 km)
F2	NW of Grant to SE of Anita	Cass	1543	23 miles (36.8 km)	Tornado struck 29 farms, causing severe damage to homes, outbuildings, and farm equipment. A fertilizer plant was destroyed.
F1	E of Primghar	O'Brien	1604	6 miles (9.6 km)
F2	E of Ida Grove	Ida	1610	12 miles (19.2 km)
F2	N of Storm Lake	Buena Vista	1612	4 miles (6.4 km)	Outbuildings were destroyed at several farms and homes sustained considerable damage.
F2	Laurens to Rodman	Pocahontas, Palo Alto	1617	25 miles (40 km)	Multiple vortex tornado tore the roof off of a warehouse and destroyed outbuildings. Farm homes sustained significant damage. Glass and debris was found embedded in carpet and furniture. Livestock was killed and two people were injured.
F3	Clarinda to S of Corning	Page, Taylor, Adams	1620	25 miles (40 km)	25 homes were damaged on the north side of Clarinda, one of which was destroyed, along with a trailer. Farm sheds and outbuildings were destroyed, and livestock was killed. Three people were injured.
F1	N of Everly	Clay	1623	1 miles (1.6 km)
F2	Spencer area	Clay	1630	2 miles (3.2 km)	Five homes were damaged, two of which had their roofs torn off.
F2	E of Havelock	Pocahontas	1700	8 miles (12.8 km)	Three farms were badly damaged and 24 pigs were killed.
F2	NW of Hardy to N of Denhart	Humboldt, Kossuth, Hancock	1715	22 miles (35.2 km)	Multiple farms sustained severe damage, with trailers, vehicles, equipment, and outbuildings damaged. Barns were destroyed as well.
F3	Burt area	Kossuth	1715	9 miles (14.4 km)	The Presbyterian church in town sustained major roof and structural damage. The school sustained roof damage and a wall collapsed on the second floor. 25 homes sustained substantial damage and several trailers were destroyed. Five people were injured.
F2	SW of German Valley to SW of Scarville	Kossuth, Winnebago	1729	21 miles (33.6 km)	A school sustained roof damage and a nearby house lost its roof entirely. A poorly built house was leveled, and another had a 2x4 driven three feet into it. Papers from the unroofed house were found 100 miles away in Minnesota.
F2	SW of Crystal Lake to SW of Kiester	Hancock, Winnebago	1745	18 miles (29.8 km)	A school and grain elevator in Crystal Lake were damaged, and a large grain bin was destroyed. Barns, sheds, garages, trees, vehicles, a house, and several trailers were damaged as well.
F1	E of Lucas	Lucas	1854	0.5 miles (0.8 km)
F2	W of Kellerton	Ringgold	1945	14 miles (23.4 km)	1 death-Six homes were destroyed and 12 others were damaged. Fatality occurred in a trailer. Three people were injured.
F1	SW of Corydon	Wayne	2033	0.5 miles (0.8 km)
F2	N of Kinross to N of Riverside	Keokuk, Washington, Johnson	2033	24 miles (38.4 km)	Damage to trees, outbuildings, vehicles and homes. A church had its windows blown out and most of its roof torn off. 13 homes were damaged in the Windham area and one person was injured.
North Dakota
F0	S of Carson	Grant	1530	0.3 miles (0.5 km)
F2	NW of Burlington	Ward	1637	0.5 miles (0.8 km)
F0	NW of Hamberg	Wells	1759	0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Kansas
F2	S of Padonia	Brown	1533	18 miles (29.8 km)	Five farm homes, four trailers, and 43 farm buildings were destroyed. 33 other homes and 97 other farm buildings were damaged. Four trucks were overturned on highways near Hiawatha. One indirect fatality occurred as a result of a heart attack.
Missouri
F4	N of Brooklyn, MO to SW of Windham, IA	Harrison, MO, Decatur, IA, Wayne, Lucas, Monroe, Mahaska, Keokuk, Iowa	1745	134 miles (214.4 km)	3 deaths-Numerous barns, mobile homes, and farm houses were completely destroyed. Part of a drive-in movie screen from near Cambria was found near Derby. Tornado devastated the small community of Wright and produced high-end F4 damage to the northwest side of Delta. Nearby farms sustained similar devastation. A couple was killed when their car was thrown, and the other fatality occurred in a mobile home.
F2	E of Winston	Daviess	2130	1 miles (1.6 km)
F2	Jamesport area	Daviess	2200	3 miles (4.8 km)	Homes, farm buildings, and trailers were damaged or destroyed. One person was injured.
Nebraska
F1	SE of Pawnee City	Pawnee	1800	0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Minnesota
F1	E of Albert Lea	Freeborn	1815	6 miles (9.6 km)
F3	NE of Albert Lea to W of Ellendale	Freeborn	1819	14 miles (23.4 km)	The Albert Lea Ambulance Service building was destroyed on the south side of town. 13 homes hand 4 business were destroyed. 52 homes, 8 commercial properties, and 16 farms were damaged as well. Some of the homes were ripped from their foundations. 12 people were injured.
F1	E of Waldorf	Waseca	1820	1 miles (1.6 km)
F1	W of Oakland	Freeborn, Steele	1825	10 miles (16 km)
F2	S of Austin	Mower	1836	5 miles (8 km)	A bowling alley was badly damaged, where 6 people were injured. A house and a TV repair shop across the street were destroyed. A total of 7 people were injured.
F1	NE of Douglas	Olmsted	1915	1 miles (1.6 km)
F0	NW of Wastedo	Goodhue	1935	2.5 miles (4 km)
Wisconsin
F2	NE of Stanley	Chippewa, Clark	2100	12 miles (19.2 km)	Two barns were flattened and two machine sheds were destroyed.
F1	SE of Phillips	Price	2230	1 mile (1.6 km)
F2	S of Belmont to E of Mineral Point	Lafayette, Iowa	2330	11 miles (17.6 km)	Mostly tree damage occurred with this tornado, but a house and outbuildings were destroyed and a house was unroofed. Tornado dissipated just outside Mineral Point.
F5	SW of Barneveld to NW of Dane	Iowa, Dane	2341	36 miles (57.6 km)	9 deaths-See section below.
F2	DeForest to S of South Randolph	Dane, Columbia	0010	18 miles (28.8 km)	Two homes in DeForest had their roofs torn off. 22 grain bins were destroyed as well.
F2	SE of Arlington to Rio	Columbia	0025	16 miles (26.6 km)	A barn, a garage, and sheds were destroyed.
F3	NE of Rio to Markesan	Columbia, Green Lake	0041	29 miles (46.4 km)	A house, a trailer, and all outbuildings were destroyed on a farm near Cambria where one person was injured. 6 barns were leveled elsewhere.
F1	W of Columbus	Columbia	0049	9 miles (14.4 km)
F2	Beaver Dam area	Dodge	0117	11 miles (17.6 km)	$640,000 in damage to 30 buildings in the area. Three barns, one business, and two garages were destroyed. Five homes sustained extensive damage and one person was injured.
South Dakota
F2	N of Howard	Miner	2100	0.1 miles (0.16 km)
Sources:Tornado History Project (June 7, 1984), Tornado History Project (June 8, 1984) - for Wisconsin data only, Grazulis (1984)

The Barneveld Tornado

As the tornado activity calmed down across Iowa and Minnesota in which numerous strong to severe tornadoes struck those areas from mid-afternoon to mid-evening, the severe weather shifted east towards Wisconsin after dark where a tornado watch was issued at about 11:00 PM CDT. By this time, most of the residents of Barneveld had gone to bed and were unaware of the tornado watch. A supercell thunderstorm, which affected portions of southeastern Iowa with a few tornadoes at around 9:00 PM CDT before weakening and intensifying shortly after, entered Wisconsin from the Iowa/Illinois border at around 12:00 AM CDT near Dubuque. Shortly after 12:30 AM CDT, June 8, it produced its first tornado near Belmont in Lafayette County and lifted near Mineral Point in Iowa County about fifteen miles southwest of Barneveld.

A few minutes later, this storm system produced one of the few F5 tornados to hit Wisconsin, developing northeast of Mineral Point (five to six miles southwest of Barneveld). At 12:41 CDT this F5 tornado drove through the center of Barneveld in full force, finally dissipating in northern Dane County around 1:40 AM CDT after traveling 36 miles (62 kilometers) for 59 minutes. A sharp bolt of lightning followed by a deafening clap of thunder cut the electricity to the town just a few minutes before the tornado struck Barneveld, awakened many residents. (It is said that the loss of power prevented the tornado siren from being activated prior to its arrival. In actuality, the town did not have a distinctive tornado siren from the siren used to activate the town's volunteer fire and EMT squad. If a siren had been activated, the residents would not have known it was a tornado warning.) At its peak, the tornado was nearly a quarter-mile wide. Other tornadoes rated from F1 to F3 touched down from Columbia County to Dodge County until after 3:00 AM CDT when activity finally weakened.

Tornado track of the Barneveld tornado (Courtesy of NWS Milwaukee)

The tornado was responsible for nine deaths and nearly 200 injuries in Barneveld while causing about $25 million in damage. In total, all three churches (the Congregational United Church of Christ, the Lutheran Church, and the Roman Catholic Church), 93 homes were destroyed as well as 17 businesses out of the town's 18, including the library, municipal building, fire station, bank, and post office. The village's water tower, though damaged, was not toppled by the winds. In addition, 64 other homes were badly damaged. The F5 damage occurred at a cul-de-sac on the northeast side of town. A cluster of several newly built homes were completely swept away at this location. Trees were debarked and vehicles were thrown and mangled. The Lutheran Church was completely leveled as well. Some of the debris including paper work were later found about 135 miles away from the village. Eight homes were also destroyed in Black Earth, and 24 additional homes were destroyed between Barneveld and Black Earth. Other tornadoes in Wisconsin caused two additional injuries and about $15 million worth of damage but no additional fatalities.

The National Weather Service in Madison reported the next day that the frequency of lightning flashes in the storm visible from Madison exceeded 200 per minute, the flashes running together into a strobe-like effect, as mentioned in media reports and books about the disaster.

The Barneveld tornado was more particular as it was one of the rare tornadoes to occur during the overnight hours well after sunset although EF5/F5 tornadoes have occurred elsewhere during night, including more recently in Greensburg, Kansas on May 4, 2007 as well as in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1998, downtown Lubbock, Texas in 1970, Tanner, Alabama and Guin, Alabama in 1974 and Udall, Kansas in 1955, the last being the deadliest Kansas tornado ever with over 80 deaths.

Outbreak death toll

State	Total	County	County total
Iowa	3	Keokuk	1
		Mahaska	1
		Ringgold	1
Missouri	1	Harrison	1
Wisconsin	9	Iowa	9
Totals	13
All deaths were tornado-related

The Barneveld tornado was the first F5 in Wisconsin since the 1958 Colfax Tornado, which killed 21. It was the first F5 in the US since 2 April 1982 when one touched down near Broken Bow, Oklahoma; the next one occurred on 31 May 1985 in Wheatland, Pennsylvania during the 1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak. The Oakfield Tornado of 18 July 1996, the most recent F5 in Wisconsin, did not cause any fatalities.

See also

• Barneveld, Wisconsin
• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes

External links

• Summary of the Barneveld tornado and supercell (NWS Milwaukee)
• Analysis of the Barneveld Tornado (by Alex Harrington)