Pacific Northwest Tornadoes?

[Billy Griffin]

Thought I'd send out a request for info, links, resources on tornadoes which have occurred in the greater Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington and even Alaska?

Perhaps I'm not doing a well-enough search, but information I've managed to hunt down seems few and far between. Seems like I recall a few posts on here from years past, but those might be gone by now.

Anyone have some good resources of information on Washington and Alaska tornado events? If so, please share.

Thanks in advance !!!

 

[Brian Stertz]

Tom Grazulis' sig tornado bible may be the best bet for some of the historically major tornadoes for WA/AK...beyond that....not sure what other sources are out there and available.

 

[Perry Williams]

Billy, you can also get quite a bit of information re: past tornadoes on this website:

http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwEvent~Storms

To my knowledge, there's only been one killer tornado in the Pacific NW since 1950.....a F3 on April 5, 1972 which killed 6 and injured 300 on a nine mile long rampage from NW Portland, OR across the Columbia river into Vancouver, WA.

The last significant (F2+) tornado to occur in Oregon was a F2 near Newberg (SW of Portland) on December 8, 1993. The last F2 or stronger to strike Washington state occurred in 1986.

 

[MatthewCarman]

Billy, hope this helps.

(I took this from a differint site then the below link)
April 5, 1975 A tornado hits Vancouver Washington killing 6 and injuring over 300 people.

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/ustorns.htm#top That site has every state.

 

[MatthewCarman]

More Information for WA: Link Here: http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/worstts.htm#IA

DEC 12, 1969 2:15 pm 0 dead 1 injured
A waterspout on the southern part of Puget Sound moved ashore near Saltwater State Park.

APR 5, 1972 12:30 pm 6 dead 304 injured
From Oregon, the tornado swept into Vancouver, hit a school, and killed people at a shopping center.

APR 5, 1972 5:30 pm 0 dead 1 injured
A trailer was destroyed at Creston, critically injuring one woman.

JLY 17, 1978 4:00 pm 0 dead 0 injured
A home was unroofed west of Newport, Pend Oreille County.

JUN 29, 1989 3:30 pm 0 dead 1 injured
Trees were blown down by a small tornado near LaCenter, Clark County; a car was lifted six feet.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Those are Iowa tornadoes listed Matthew...I would think there would be alot of F0/F1 type tornadoes in WA state given their usual cold core type of scenarios they get. Then there is always the rogue Vancouver WA killer tornado.

 

[MatthewCarman]

Those are Iowa tornadoes listed Matthew...I would think there would be alot of F0/F1 type tornadoes in WA state given their usual cold core type of scenarios they get. Then there is always the rogue Vancouver WA killer tornado.

I feel like a COMPLETE IDIOT LOL I did the state of Iowa hmmm I thought I had the state of WA picked. Sorry. No wonder the counties seemed familiar.


http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/watorn.htm

all times Pacific Standard Time
date event hour dead inj. F County # scale #

Adams County Tornadoes
JLY 01, 1978 002 1534 0 0 F1 001
MAY 12, 1980 001 1535 0 0 F0 001
APR 23, 1983 002 1529 0 0 F0 001
Benton County Tornadoes
MAY 09, 1956 001 1300 0 0 F0 005
Clark County Tornadoes
APR 05, 1972 001 1250 6 300 F3 011
OCT 13, 1984 002 1200 0 0 F1 011
JUN 29, 1989 001 1530 0 1 F1 011
MAY 31, 1997 004 1645 0 0 F0 011
SEP 15, 1997 013 1840 0 0 F0 011
MAY 11, 2000 003 1535 0 0 F0 011
Columbia County Tornadoes
MAR 14, 1966 001 1130 0 0 F2 013
JAN 16, 2000 001 0900 0 0 F1 013
Cowlitz County Tornadoes
NOV 10, 1965 002 1455 0 0 F0 015
MAR 28, 1985 001 1630 0 0 F1 015
Douglas County Tornadoes
JLY 04, 1992 001 1450 0 0 F0 017
Franklin County Tornadoes
JLY 01, 1978 002 1530 0 0 F1 021
APR 23, 1983 001 1449 0 0 F1 021
Grant County Tornadoes
APR 05, 1972 002 1630 0 0 F2 025
JLY 01, 1979 002 1050 0 0 F0 025
AUG 10, 1985 002 1300 0 0 F1 025
Grays Harbor County Tornadoes
AUG 26, 1997 012 1622 0 0 F0
DEC 22, 1997 014 2315 0 0 F0
King County Tornadoes
SEP 28, 1962 001 1757 0 0 F1 033
AUG 18, 1964 003 1045 0 0 F0 033
DEC 12, 1969 001 1415 0 1 F3 033
Kitsap County Tornadoes
APR 09, 1991 001 1250 0 0 F0 035
Lewis County Tornadoes
NOV 10, 1965 001 1430 0 0 F2 041
Lincoln County Tornadoes
MAY 06, 1957 002 1358 0 0 F0 043
APR 05, 1972 003 1730 0 1 F3 043
AUG 18, 1978 004 1810 0 0 F1 043
MAY 01, 1979 001 1415 0 0 F1 043
MAY 31, 1997 001 1140 0 0 F1 043
Okanogan County Tornadoes
MAY 03, 1982 001 1100 0 0 F1 047
MAY 30, 1987 001 1800 0 0 F1 047
JLY 21, 1997 005 1515 0 0 F1 047
JLY 21, 1997 006 1515 0 0 F1 047
AUG 26, 1997 011 1615 0 0 F0 047
Pacific County Tornadoes
SEP 27, 1926 001 0600 0 0 F1 049
DEC 23, 1949 001 1100 0 0 F2 049
DEC 01, 1990 001 1000 0 0 F0 049
JUN 13, 1991 002 1100 0 0 F0 049
Pend Oreille County Tornadoes
JLY 17, 1978 003 1400 0 0 F2 051
Pierce County Tornadoes
JUN 12, 1978 001 1530 0 0 F1 053
SEP 24, 1981 002 1045 0 0 F0 053
MAY 31, 1997 003 1415 0 0 F1 053
Snohomish County Tornadoes
NOV 24, 1970 002 0600 0 0 F2 061
OCT 26, 1971 002 1355 0 0 F1 061
MAY 13, 1986 001 1000 0 0 F2 061
AUG 24, 1997 009 1711 0 0 F0 061
Spokane County Tornadoes
MAY 20, 1924 001 1530 0 0 F1 063
JUN 15, 1954 001 1330 0 0 F2 063
MAY 06, 1957 003 2000 0 0 F2 063
MAY 22, 1964 001 1535 0 0 F0 063
JUN 29, 1970 001 1745 0 0 F1 063
JUN 22, 1981 001 2015 0 0 F1 063
OCT 17, 1983 004 1630 0 0 F1 063
APR 12, 1984 001 1500 0 0 F1 063
APR 06, 1994 002 1705 0 0 F0 063
Stevens County Tornadoes
APR 05, 1972 004 1800 0 0 F2 065
AUG 14, 1980 002 0830 0 0 F1 065
JLY 25, 1983 003 1800 0 0 F1 065
MAY 31, 1997 002 1245 0 0 F1 065
JLY 21, 1997 007 1555 0 0 F1 065
JLY 21, 1997 008 1555 0 0 F1 065
Thurston County Tornadoes
APR 06, 1994 001 1145 0 0 F0 067
Walla Walla County Tornadoes
JUN 26, 1916 001 0 0 F2 071
SEP 03, 1936 001 1750 0 0 F0 071
APR 24, 1958 001 1515 0 0 F0 071
JUN 26, 1958 002 1800 0 0 F2 071
MAY 22, 1964 002 1419 0 0 F0 071
AUG 09, 1982 002 1625 0 0 F0 071
AUG 24, 1987 002 1700 0 0 F0 071
Whitman County Tornadoes
AUG 30, 1971 001 1630 0 0 F2 075
DEC 30, 1971 003 1630 0 0 F1 075
SEP 14, 1986 002 1740 0 0 F0 075
Yakima County Tornadoes
APR 30, 1957 001 1840 0 0 F2 077
AUG 26, 1997 010 1330 0 0 F0 077
MAY 09, 1999 001 1300 0 0 F0 077
MAY 15, 2000 002 1613 0 0 F0 077

 

[Mike Ridgeway]

Has anyone ever seen a tornado watch box in the pacific northwest? I recall seeing one (four or five years ago?) that covered portions of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. I have never seen a tornado watch box in southern Idaho, yet we get more tornadoes in the southern part of the state than the northen part. The one below touched down on October 4th last year near the small southern Idaho town of Shoshone. I wonder if there is a site where you can see if your area has ever been in a tornado watch? Surely a tornado watch is rare in the pacific northwest, yet tornadoes do occur in these parts every year.

 

[Billy Griffin]

I witnessed a funnel cloud back in February of this year - in the lowlands near Mt. Rainer, of all places! It was very short lived, and I sure did a double take while taking pictures, but you're right. Every year, the PNW experiences severe weather and the occasional tornado. Perhaps a lot of these go unreported due to the sparse population, especially over parts of eastern Washington and Oregon, and in Idaho.

Good info you shared guys! My dream shot is still to capture a tornado over the plains of eastern WA (perhaps near Yakima) while having Mt. Rainier, Adams, or St. Helens in the background. Probably one in a million chance, but one never knows!

 

[Sam Sagnella]

The NWS Anchorage, AK office has pictures on its site of what it is calling a tornado, although you cannot see the ground beneath the funnel, which occurred near Sand Point on July 25, 2005.

http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/classroom/sand_point.php

 

[Billy Griffin]

Seems like I recall someone posting a link or video clip here a couple of year ago, where a small tornado actually hits some type of security guard shack? I think that was in Alaska as well - perhaps the same storm?