Usually, on a hot, humid Wisconsin day such as today, I immediately turn to the time-honored Midwestern tradition of sitting in an air-conditioned room and complaining about the hot, humid Wisconsin weather. Sometimes, I also turn to the slightly less time-honored Midwestern tradition of tornado stories – and by “tornado stories” I mean gawking at tornado videos on YouTube. I swear, even a tiny, pixilated video on my laptop screen is capable of producing the same mixture of fear, awe, horror, and amazement I feel when watching the real thing – and by “real thing” I mean the 1996 Helen Hunt/Bill Paxton gust-fest Twister.

I started looking for Wisconsin tornado history, and once again, the Wisconsin Historical Society has got my back (much like this guy). They say:

• Tornadoes strike somewhere in Wisconsin every summer. The state averages 21 tornadoes annually, with a record 62 in 2005; there were 18 confirmed tornadoes in 2007.
• The earliest mention of one is by Jonathan Carver, who visited the state in 1766 and noted the effects of a tornado in the vicinity of the present city of Chippewa Falls. The state's deadliest tornado destroyed the St. Croix Co. town of New Richmond in 1899. The single day on which the most tornadoes hit Wisconsin was Aug. 18, 2005. Read more!

Keep reading to see their list of some of the worst WIS-ters. I also came across something called the Tornado History Project. You can enter search criteria like time and location and generate a map of matching tornadoes, including their “F” category and even their path through the area. They have 1176 files on record for Wisconsin, 17 for Eau Claire County – obviously, they're still gathering data for the project.

OK, now try not to have nightmares about all this. See also.