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“As a kid in Oklahoma, I saw a tornado, and that’s what that was this afternoon.”
By U. S. standards, the Pacific Northwest sees relatively few tornadoes, but they do
occur. Most of these tornadoes are relatively weak and short-lived.
A notable exception was the Vancouver Washington tornado of 1972. This tornado was on the ground
for nine miles, and killed six people. It was the deadliest tornado in Pacific Northwest
history, and the first tornado fatalities in the region since 1894.
On the morning of April 5th, 1972, an upper level trough was off the West Coast, with
a strong south-southwest flow aloft.
At the surface, a front was about to push inland along the Oregon coast. Temperatures
in the air ahead of the front were close to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, with dew points around
50.
The relatively warm humid air near the surface, combined with cooler air moving in aloft,
made the air mass marginally unstable. The incoming front would supply the necessary
lift to initiate deeper convection later in the morning.
Weather radars during the morning, showed showers moving northeast across the Coast
Range and into the Willamette Valley. In this image, the outlined areas represent areas
of rain.
The showers and storms brought strong winds to the Willamette Valley, as they progressed
north. Winds gusted as high as 76 mph in Corvallis at 1210 pm, shortly after noon.
Shortly before 1 pm, radar showed a line of storms moving through the Portland metro area.
These storms brought damaging winds to the Portland metro area. Winds unroofed a lumber
warehouse in Tigard, to the southwest of Portland, and trees fell on several homes and cars in
Portland. Gusts were recorded to 48 mph on the Morrison Bridge in Portland, and to 82
mph on Mt Scott.
At the Portland airport, just to the east of where the tornado first touched down, winds
gusted to 63 mph.
By 1 pm PST, the front had pushed up into the Portland metro area. Some rotation to
the low level wind field was induced as south winds coming up the Willamette Valley ran
into easterly winds out of the Columbia River Gorge.
Around 12:45 pm, a tornado touched down near a marina in north Portland, at 33rd Avenue
and Marine Drive along the Columbia River. After extensive damage to the marina, where
it was described as a “black mass”, the tornado crossed the river sending up a cloud
of spray.
After crossing the Columbia River into Vancouver Washington, the tornado left a 9 mile path
of destruction unmatched by any tornado in Pacific Northwest history, moving from the
banks of the Columbia northeast before finally lifting for the final time north of Vancouver,
near Brush Prairie.
In moving through several residential areas, the tornado damaged or destroyed about 50
homes. There were numerous reports of golf ball size hail with the storm.
The greatest destruction occurred over length of about two blocks in North Vancouver. It
completely destroyed the Peter S. Ogden Elementary School, miraculously without killing anyone
despite school being in session. Governor Evans praised students from the neighboring
high school for their efforts after the storm.
“I think it was a miracle that nobody was killed in the school building. I think the
thanks can go to the high school students who responded immediately to the disaster”
“I was in the third grade at the time. We had just come in from our lunch recess and
our teacher Miss Priel was reading us of all things ‘The Wizard of Oz’!”
A block away, the tornado wrecked a bowling alley, then after another half block, it destroyed
a Waremart Market.
Also badly wrecked in this area were a lumber store, service station, and other businesses
in the shopping center.
It was at the Waremart discount store and Sunrise Bowling Lanes that six people lost
their lives. In all, the tornado track extended nine miles beyond the Columbia River, although
there were large skips in its track towards the end. It lifted for the final time as it
neared Brush Prairie, to the northeast of Vancouver.
Rated an F 3 on the Fujita scale with estimated winds from 158 to 206 mph , it is one of only
three ever rated so strong in Washington or Oregon. Probably not coincidently, one of
the other F 3 tornadoes touched down in eastern Washington later that day. Because of the
Vancouver tornado, Washington led the nation in tornado deaths in 1972. For its size and
impact, this tornado is unrivaled in Pacific Northwest history. It showed that while killer
tornadoes are rare in the Pacific Northwest, they have occurred in the past, and are likely
to do so again in the future.