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F1 tornado in Columbia County, Washington

Tornado January 16, 2000 · Columbia County, Washington

F1
Rating
1.0 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

On January 16th a strong occluded front crossed the Columbia Basin. This front developed from a deep low pressure system off the coast of Washington. A line of convective showers along the front brought wind gusts of 46 mph to Walla Walla, which is 25 miles southwest of Dayton. At 9 am, several witnesses reported that a tornado developed just south of US Highway 12 one mile southwest of Dayton. At this location, the second story of a barn was damaged and a mobile home was flipped over. The tornado then followed an intermittent path for around one mile through the south side of Dayton. This path followed the floodplain of the Touchet River, which is just to the north of Rock Hill. Rock Hill is a 700 ft. ridge just to the southwest of Dayton. Several large trees were felled, including a 50 yard wide section of a line of trees along the east side of the river. In the south side of Dayton, an elementary school had several shingles removed and damage to the roof's trim. Finally, considerable damage occurred to a house on Peabody Hill just southeast of Dayton. A large conifer fell and hit the side of a house. A brick chimmey collapsed on this same house as well.

Began near Dayton (46.3167, -118.0000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5132929. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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