[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.94 square miles (5.02 km2), all of it land.

Households made up of individuals numbered 22.2% and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

It was part of a large outbreak of storms that started the evening before with tornadoes also touching down in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota.

[9] Although a tornado watch had been issued late on the night of June 7, most residents were unaware that a storm was approaching until they were awakened by a lightning strike and an instantaneous clap of thunder just before 12:41 AM CDT.

The 0.4-mile (0.60-km) wide tornado caused F5 damage, the highest level on the Fujita scale.

[10] In all, about 170 of the village's 225 commercial, agricultural, and residential buildings were either destroyed instantly or damaged seriously enough that they were unable to be rebuilt.

The only remaining and largely undamaged structure was the water tower, which had to be repaired and repainted.

Rebuilding began immediately, and by 2000, the population of Barneveld was almost exactly double what it was at the time the tornado nearly destroyed the town.

The thunderstorm that created the tornado also put on one of the brightest lightning shows in recorded history, generating 200 strikes per minute.