National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

After a cool, cloudy start to the day, the atmosphere became very unstable during the afternoon of July 8, 1999 and produced significant thunderstorm activity. A tornado formed just northwest of the town of Lewiston, MN (Winona Co.), tracked right through town, and then dissipated southeast of town near a farm. There were a couple injuries and lots of damage in town.

As the storms tracked into Wisconsin, they produced another brief tornado in Mondovi, WI (Buffalo Co.) along with areas of wind damage. Rotation from the same storm that struck Lewiston went across the Mississippi River valley near La Crosse and was witnessed by the La Crosse National Weather Service just east of town.  Winds gusted to 72 mph at the NWS office, with other high gusts from different directions.  There was wind damage across parts of central La Crosse County, WI.

In summary, there were two tornadoes - one F2 and one F1 - and sporadic wind damage.

Image
The clear path of the Lewiston, MN tornado as it moved into nearby farm fields on July 8, 1999
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