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EF1 tornado in Cowlitz County, Washington

Tornado October 23, 2014 · Cowlitz County, Washington

EF1
Rating
1.3 mi
Path length
66 yd
Path width
$182K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 66 yards (0.04 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

Law enforcement confirmed that a tornado touched down near the Safeway in Longview, WA around 1240 PM. The tornado then traveled down Vandercook Way before dissipating near Main St. There was significant roof damage to industrial buildings, minor roof damage to residential buildings, 35 to 30 large trees snapped off or blew down, some power poles downed, and automobiles damaged from debris.

The wider storm

A cold upper trough with vertical wind shear produced thunderstorms across Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon. A line of intense thunderstorms was moving through the Portland Metro Area at about the same time a shower intensified over Kelso, Oregon and Longview, Washington. This thunderstorm produced tornado that touched down in Longview, Washington in the early afternoon resulting in around 1.3 miles of wind damage. A NWS Storm survey determined the damage to be consistent with an F1 tornado.

Began near Longview (46.1300, -122.9457).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 545155. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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