Type Tornado outbreak Tornadoes confirmed 28 confirmed Duration of tornado outbreak 8 hours, 40 minutes Damage 42.54 million USD | Duration August 18, 2005 Max rating Start date August 18, 2005 | |
 | ||
Casualties 1 fatality, 24 injuries Similar Evansville Tornado of Novembe, Late‑November 2005 tornado o, Southern Ontario tornado o, November 2005 Iowa tornado o, 2005 Hurricane Cindy tor | ||
The August 2005 Wisconsin tornado outbreak was an outbreak of tornadoes that occurred primarily in southern Wisconsin on August 18, 2005. Another tornado touched down in Minnesota. A total of 27 tornadoes were confirmed that day in Wisconsin, the most tornadoes recorded in the state in a single day. This broke the previous record of 24 tornadoes set on May 8, 1988. The system generating the Stoughton tornado was also accompanied by many reports of severe winds and hail throughout the region. The Stoughton tornado was documented on an episode of The Weather Channel's Storm Stories.
Stoughton F3 tornado
By far the most significant tornado of the day developed 2.0 miles (3.2 km) north of Oregon at 6:15 p.m.. This large, intense multiple-vortex tornado tracked 20.0 miles (32.2 km) into Jefferson County from Dane County, devastating the town of Stoughton.
East of Oregon the tornado tore through several farms before impacting residential subdivisions in Stoughton. One person was crushed to death in their basement from fireplace and chimney bricks that crashed through the floor. Numerous homes, businesses, farm buildings, vehicles, power-lines, trees, and other personal effects were either damaged or destroyed along its path that grew to a maximum width of about 600 yards north of Stoughton. As for residential structures, 220 sustained minor damage, 84 had major damage, and 69 were destroyed. As for business structures, 6 sustained minor damage, 1 had major damage, and 1 was destroyed. As for agricultural structures, 5 sustained minor damage, 5 had major damage, and 40 were destroyed. Several vehicles were flipped and tossed as well. Some homes in town were completely leveled, and an F4 rating was considered. Further investigation revealed that the homes were not well-built, and the slow (sometimes nearly stationary) forward movement of the tornado negated a rating higher than F3. After striking Stoughton, the tornado caused damage to trees and crops north of Busseyville before dissipating. Debris from this tornado was lofted by the parent updraft and carried downstream to scattered locations in the counties of Jefferson, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha. 23 people were injured.
The Stoughton tornado struck on the day after a devastating fire at one of the city's largest churches (cause unrelated to severe weather) and was the climax of a two-day spate of severe weather in Southern Wisconsin; the previous day several superbolts of lightning were reported as having done extensive damage at various sites in Madison and other Dane County communities, including one incident in which a tree many feet in diameter literally exploded when hit by a bolt apparently from a storm 7–10 miles away and with the sun shining at the location at the time.
Ten years later to the day, three tornadoes touched down outside of Lake Geneva, Big Bend, and Waukesha. There were no injuries or fatalities from those tornadoes.