Menasha & the Fox Valley: 78 Tornadoes Since 1954, and the 2026 EF3 That Broke a 42-Year Calm
The July 27, 2026 EF3 that tore through Appleton and Menasha was the strongest tornado the Fox Valley had seen since 1984 — and the widest ever recorded here. But the longer record tells a stranger story: this is a summer tornado zone that is hit often and violently almost never.
The Fox Valley — Appleton, Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh and Fox Crossing — has recorded 78 tornadoes since 1954, causing 3 deaths and 30 injuries, according to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center archive. But in 70 years only one reached F4 (in 1984) and one reached F3 (a rare December tornado in 1970). Everything else was F2 or weaker. For a region that sits in a genuinely active corner of the Upper Midwest, that is a remarkably gentle record. Then came July 27, 2026.
That late morning, an EF3 tornado with 140 mph winds touched down west of Appleton and tracked south straight through Fox Crossing, Menasha, Doty Island and Neenah before dying over Lake Winnebago. At its widest it spanned about 1,800 yards — a full mile across — the widest tornado in the region’s recorded history, according to National Weather Service damage surveys reported by FOX 11. It was the area’s strongest tornado in 42 years. Here is where it fits in the full record.
July 27, 2026: the Appleton–Menasha EF3
The tornado developed around 11:56 a.m. CDT about two miles west-northwest of Appleton and moved south at roughly 30 mph, dissipating over Lake Winnebago near 12:22 p.m. In just under half an hour it cut through the heart of the Fox Cities — Fox Crossing, Menasha, Doty Island and Neenah — stripping roofs, shifting houses off their foundations and, in some Menasha neighborhoods, leaving nothing but scattered lumber. The NWS in Green Bay confirmed it as a single EF3 with peak winds of 140 mph.
What made it historic was its size. At up to 1,800 yards (1.02 miles) wide, it was the widest tornado ever recorded in the NWS Green Bay coverage area — wider than the 1984 F4 that had stood as the region’s benchmark for four decades. Remarkably, no deaths were reported and the injury count was described as low, a near-miracle for a mile-wide tornado through a populated corridor. You can pull the exact conditions for that morning on our historical weather lookup. Because it happened after our SPC dataset’s 2024 cutoff, it is not yet counted in the 78-tornado box total below — but it now stands as the strongest storm in the region’s modern history.
The strongest Fox Valley tornadoes on record
Ranked by intensity, then deaths and injuries, from the SPC record for the Fox Valley box (1954–2024). Location labels are derived from touchdown coordinates. The area has only ever recorded one F4 and one F3, so this table is essentially the complete list of its strongest storms — the historical company the 2026 EF3 now joins.
| Date | Area | Rating | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 1984 | Near Butte des Morts (Winnebago Co.) The only F4 in the local record and the benchmark the 2026 tornado is measured against — a 27.5-mile track that killed one and injured 19. | F4 | 1 |
| Dec 1, 1970 | Northwest of Appleton (Outagamie Co.) A December tornado — extraordinary this far north — and the only other F3-or-stronger storm on record here. | F3 | 0 |
| Jul 18, 1996 | East of Lake Winnebago (Calumet Co.) A 200-yard-wide summer tornado; one of only three fatal tornadoes in the local record. | F2 | 1 |
| Aug 9, 1979 | Calumet County The third fatal tornado on record — an August storm, again in the warm season. | F2 | 1 |
| May 8, 1964 | Winnebago County Longest track of the strong tornadoes here — 30.6 miles. | F2 | 0 |
| Aug 6, 2013 | Outagamie County A 13-mile track; the most recent strong tornado in the area before July 2026. | F2 | 0 |
For the wider picture, compare fellow Upper-Midwest metros Minneapolis and Chicago, or the national deadliest-tornadoes ranking.
The Fox Valley is a summer tornado zone
This is the part that surprises people: the Fox Valley does not follow the classic spring peak of Tornado Alley. Its busiest month by far is June (26 tornadoes), and May through August accounts for 92% of every tornado on record here. There is essentially no tornado activity from September through February — with one glaring exception, the freak December 1970 F3. That warm-season concentration is why the July 27, 2026 EF3, jarring as it was, landed squarely inside the local peak. Monthly counts from the SPC data:
Minnesota’s metros share this later, summer-weighted peak — see Minneapolis’s July-peaking record — a very different rhythm from the March–May Plains maximum.
How the Fox Valley fits Wisconsin’s tornado record
Statewide, the SPC database lists 1,557 tornadoes in Wisconsin since 1950, causing 101 deaths, with 17 rated F4 and just three F5s. Against that, the Fox Valley’s three deaths and single F4 make it one of the calmer major population centers in the state — the region gets its share of weak, short-lived summer tornadoes, but violent ones have been genuinely rare.
The 2026 EF3 doesn’t overturn that pattern so much as punctuate it: a low-frequency, high-consequence hit on a corridor that had gone 42 years without a violent tornado. See how Wisconsin stacks up against every other state in our ranking of states with the most tornadoes, and the deeper local picture on the Wisconsin weather page and Wisconsin records.
Frequently asked questions
How strong was the July 2026 Appleton-Menasha tornado?
It was rated EF3 with peak winds of 140 mph by the National Weather Service in Green Bay. It touched down about 2 miles west-northwest of Appleton late on the morning of July 27, 2026, tracked south through Fox Crossing, Menasha, Doty Island and Neenah, and dissipated over Lake Winnebago around 12:22 p.m. At its widest it was about 1,800 yards (1.02 miles) across — the widest tornado in the Fox Valley’s recorded history.
When was the last major tornado in the Fox Valley before 2026?
April 27, 1984, when an F4 tornado tracked 27.5 miles across the Fox Valley near Butte des Morts, killing one person and injuring 19. It is the only F4 in the local NOAA SPC record. The July 27, 2026 EF3 was the strongest tornado in the area in the 42 years since — and only the second F3-or-stronger tornado on record here alongside a rare December 1970 F3.
How many tornadoes has the Menasha and Fox Valley area had?
The NOAA SPC database records 78 tornadoes in the Fox Valley touchdown box (covering Appleton, Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh and Fox Crossing) between 1954 and 2024, causing 3 deaths and 30 injuries. Only one reached F4 (1984) and one F3 (1970); the rest were F2 or weaker. That makes the area frequently visited by weak tornadoes but rarely by violent ones — which is exactly why the 2026 EF3 was such an outlier.
When is tornado season in the Fox Valley?
Summer, not spring. June is the busiest month (26 of 78 tornadoes on record), and May through August accounts for 92% of all Fox Valley tornadoes. That is a later, warmer peak than the classic spring maximum on the Great Plains — and it is why a violent tornado in late July, like the 2026 EF3, fits the local pattern even though it shocked residents.
Explore the tornado record yourself
Every figure here comes from the NOAA SPC database, which we've made browsable. Map any state, filter by rating, or read the stories behind the record books: