While people in Colorado were shoveling sidewalks and fighting rush hour traffic in the snow to get home, citizens of the Midwest were dealing with a very rare January event. On Monday, a major severe weather outbreak affected nine states from Oklahoma to Wisconsin and spawned 37 reported tornadoes.

The outbreak began mid to late afternoon in Wisconsin when the first seven twisters were reported. One tornado hit the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin damaging several homes. Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities with this tornado. Several other tornadoes were reported in the area, including one report of two tornadoes on the ground at the same time near I-94 and Highway 142. 7News Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson said that during his time in Wisconsin, he never remembered hearing of such an event this early in the season.

The worst of the outbreak struck after dark further south in Missouri where nearly two-dozen tornadoes were reported after dark. The town of Marshfield, Missouri took the worst blow where a strong tornado was reported near Quarry Road on the north side of town. Here, there was one reported fatality and six injured. Another fatality was reported just west of Strafford, Missouri. Several tornadoes were also reported in and around Springfield as a series of severe storms moved over the city. No major damage or injuries reported with those tornadoes.

Several tornadoes also touched down in Illinois and Arkansas resulting in one injury.

Just before 10:00pm CST, a 350 mile stretch of the squall line was tornado warned. This constant string of tornado warnings ran from Dewar, Oklahoma northeast towards Washington, Missouri. To give you a better idea, Dewar is approximately 50 miles south of Tulsa and Washington is roughly 50 miles west of St. Louis. To drive between the towns, it would require 400 miles of driving, mostly along I-44 to go from one town to the other.

According to the Storm Prediction Center’s preliminary severe weather reports, a total of 216 hail, wind, and tornado reports were recorded over the outbreak. Two additional tornadoes were reported in Arkansas early Tuesday morning as part of the same system, neither produced major damage or injuries.

January tornado outbreaks are very rare and only a small handful has been recorded in history. Back in 1999, a total of 102 tornadoes were reported between the 17th and 22nd. However, those tornadoes occurred in an area more common for severe weather this early in the year. Arkansas and Tennessee were the main victims of this outbreak as tornadoes were reported all across the Mississippi Valley. This outbreak killed 17 people as many of the tornadoes occurred during the overnight hours during this time frame. This outbreak was also responsible for the Little Rock Tornado which went directly through Arkansas’s capital, making it one of a very few tornadoes to ever hit a major downtown area. It was eventually rated F-3 on the old Fugita scale as it damaged or destroyed over 200 structures in downtown Little Rock leaving one fatality in its wake.

What made Monday’s event so rare was not only how early it hit, but how far north. Tornadoes in Wisconsin are extremely rare. The National Weather Service office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin says this is the first January tornado in over 50 years to strike the state. Again, a total of seven reports came in. As damage surveys are conducted, this number will be revised to reflect a better count of how many tornadoes actually hit the region.

7News Storm Chaser Tony Laubach says there were many spotters on these storms Monday, however the event taking place so early in the season kept many chasers from making the lengthy trip. Storm chasing in this part of the country is dangerous due to the hilly terrain covered with thick vegetation. Another factor making storms difficult to track was the storm speed. While the entire line was slowly moving east, the individual storm cells were racing northeast at speeds over 50 miles per hour. Many of the reported tornadoes in Monday’s outbreak were spotted by local chasers who braved the weather despite the dangerous conditions. With them working with the various National Weather Services offices, the death toll and injury count remained very small as many residents in that part of the country are not expecting to deal with this type of weather so early in the year.

More severe weather is possible Tuesday, but the risk of tornadoes is not as high. The storm system responsible for Monday’s outbreak has weakened considerably, but a slight chance still exists across the southeast as the storm continues to move to the east.