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EF1 tornado in Umatilla County, Oregon

Tornado May 6, 2022 · Umatilla County, Oregon

EF1
Rating
2.9 mi
Path length
175 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 175 yards (0.10 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

At 1244 PST, a tornado spun up 7 miles east southeast of Weston, OR along OR Highway 204 and moved east crossing OR Highway 204 3 times before veering left about 1.9 miles from it's start point. The tornado continued east north east for 0.80 miles across a draw north of OR Hwy 204, following parallel to Lower Basket Mountain Rd for about 0.8 miles before dissipating. Many trees were either uprooted or snapped while covering the highway and other roads. Several residences saw roof damage, including failure and uplifting of a partial roof that was transported 300 feet. A farm outbuilding was also heavily damaged where the roof and walls had collapsed.

The wider storm

A potent upper level shortwave trough coupled with a cold front passage at the surface provided showery activity through most of the day. During the afternoon, these systems interacted with increasing instability, strong bulk shear, and upsloping into mountain areas allowed some of these showers to strengthen into strong thunderstorms that produced severe hail and a tornado.

Began near Bingham Spgs (45.7870, -118.2830).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1031587. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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