Five tornadoes occurred on June 4, 1958 in Northwest Wisconsin. Here is a breakdown of each:
- F2 – Rusk, Sawyer Counties, 13.8 mile path
- F3 – Chippewa County, 4.3 mile path
- F4 – Chippewa County, 11.1 mile path, 3 fatalities
- F4 – Eau Claire, Clark, Marathon Counties, 59.2 mile path, 4 fatalities
- F5 – St. Croix, Dun Counties, 33.7 mile path, 21 fatalities
This summary explores the history of the F5. It was actually the first tornado in this family of twisters. The tornado moved east from 4 miles SW of Woodville to 1 miles South of Knapp. It then moved along the north edge of Menomonie. The tornado made a turn to the ENE and crossed through the south and east parts of Colfax.
Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, 3 deaths occurred in the early part of the path (before hitting Colfax). The greatest loss of life occurred in Colfax. Per Grazulis, at least 15 killed here. Dozens of homes were leveled. Before lifting ENE of Colfax, farm houses were demolished. Two were killed when a car was thrown from Highway 40 near the end of the path.
Path details from Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes.
There are discrepancies on the number of injuries. More than likely the total exceeded 100 (the SPC only lists 74). One of those critically injured was a baby girl who was thrown 300 feet into a ditch in Colfax.
I found several newspaper articles that documented some unusual incidents (newspapers clips found later in the summary):
- A neatly folded insurance policy was blown from a farm just south of Knapp to a rural Sheldon farm about 75-80 miles to the northeast. The policy owner was killed by the tornado.
- A woman was found with a 1/2 inch diameter stick embedded in her skull.
- Furnishings in one home were thrown about yet on the kitchen table were a dozen eggs in a paper container untouched.