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EF1 tornado in Mason County, Washington

Tornado October 18, 2019 · Mason County, Washington

EF1

Rating

0.7 mi

Path length

90 yd

Path width

$150K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 90 yards (0.05 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

Between approximately 6:02 - 6:07 PM on the evening of October 18, a tornado touched down near Shelton in Mason County, Washington and traveled approximately 0.68 miles before moving over the water of Pickering Passage and dissipating as a waterspout. The first video evidence and reports from area fire officials prompted the NWS to send a damage survey team to the area during the afternoon of October 19, 2019. Preliminary evaluation of the damage by the team concluded that the tornado reached an EF-1 rating. The damage path was up to 90 yards in width and the tornado was estimated to be on the ground for approximately 5 minutes.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported with this tornado. Most of the damage was in the form of uprooted or snapped soft wood fir and cedar trees. Falling trees did impact at least two houses along the damage path, including one house that had two trees fall on the roof.

The wider storm

Between approximately 6:02 - 6:07 PM on the evening of October 18, a tornado touched down near Shelton in Mason County, Washington before moving over the water of Pickering Passage and dissipating as a waterspout. The first video evidence and reports from area fire officials prompted the NWS to send a damage survey team to the area during the afternoon of October 19, 2019.

Began near Bay Shr (47.2696, -122.9422).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 854717. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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