Here are some collected pictures and personal stories of how the Tornado of June 23th, 2004, effected the Midvale Heights community. 

Click on the buttons on the left, or there are some areas along the tornado path on the map below that you can click on.A

Jef Hinds plotted out the tornado path

Last updated 7/27/2004

Links to other web sites about the tornado:

Channel 3000
  National Weather Service Confirms Tornado Struck Madison Neighborhoods

Channel 3000 slide shows:
  Storm pictures
  Damage pictures

From NOAA:
 ...DANE COUNTY...
A TORNADO THAT STARTED ABOUT 835 PM ABOUT 2.5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
MIDDLETON...MOVED EAST SOUTHEAST THROUGH SOUTHERN MADISON JUST NORTH
OF THE SOUTH BELTLINE...AND ENDED ABOUT 844 PM AT A POINT ABOUT 2.3
MILES SOUTH OF THE CAPITOL SQUARE. ESTIMATED WINDS ABOUT 110 MPH.
SEVERAL BUILDINGS AND SIGNS SUSTAINED DAMAGE AND NUMEROUS TREES WERE
EITHER UPROOTED OR DAMAGED. PATH LENGTH 7.8 MILES. RATED F1.

The Fujita Tornado Damage Scale
 

Pictures taken on June 23, 2004

By Tom Jarvis
Location: 4625 Tokay Blvd.
Damage: None, some small branches and lots of pine cones knocked down.

Around 8:10 PM on Tuesday, June 23, the Tornado Sirens went off. At 8:13 PM I received an E-mail from Channel 3000 with the following message:

Issued at: 8:11 PM CDT 6/23/04, expires at: 8:30 PM CDT 6/23/04

Tornado warning continues for dane county until 900 pm cdt.
At 810 pm cdt national weather service doppler radar indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado 3 miles southwest of mazomanie, moving east at 55 mph.
The severe thunderstorm and possible tornado will be near, cross plains by 815 pm cdt. Middleton by 825 pm cdt. Shorewood hills by 830 pm cdt.
This is a dangerous storm situation. Do not run outside to find the tornado, seek shelter immediately! move to a shelter below ground if available. Otherwise, go to a small interior room on the lowest floor. 

I am afraid I did not follow their advice. I decided from that information, that the storm was passing to the north of Midvale Heights. It was not raining, or windy, so I went outside too see if I could see the storm. Of course, if I had stayed inside and read the next E-mail from Channel 3000 I would have known they had changed the estimated route of the tornado.  When I went outside I noticed a faint rainbow to the south east, so I decided to get my digital camera and try to take a picture of it.  By the time I got the camera, it was darker and you could hardly see the rainbow.  In this picture, taken at 8:28 PM you can just make out the faint colors in the rainbow near the tops of the trees in the middle.

By the time I had taken the rainbow picture, it had started to rain. I then took this picture at the corner of Tokay and Charles, looking to the north at 8:29 PM.

A few minutes latter I was outside, on the south side of my house, and I heard a sound that immediately made me think of a tornado. It was coming from the north, and getting louder, so I ran inside.
A little while after the tornado passed, I took a few more pictures, starting at 8:54 PM.  The clouds had lightened up some, but it was dark and I had my camera set to enhance the light that was available, and that made the pictures blurry. I walked along Tokay taking the pictures, I could see  more destruction farther north, but I did not want to get closer because I was afraid of power lines being down.

[June 23, 2004] [Science Drive] [Berwyn Drive] [Hilltop Drive] [Orchard Drive] [Charles Lane] [Woodside Terrace] [Tokay Boulevard] [Thank You] [Westmorland Neighborhood]