Rare Oregon Tornado hits Aumsville

"The strongest tornado to strike Oregon and Washington in 17 years tore through the small western Oregon town of Aumsville just before noon Tuesday. The National Weather Service has preliminarily classified today's tornado as an EF2 on the enhanced fujita scale." Special thanks to the Portland office of the National Weather Service for also posting this radar loop of Tuesday's tornado.

"In comparison, Tuesday's tornado was the strongest to strike NW Oregon and SW Washington since an F2 tornado rolled through Oregon's Yamhill and Washington counties on December 8th 1993, where no no injuries were reported. The Vancouver, Washington tornado of April 5th 1972, which was an F3, stands alone in the record books. Six people were killed in Vancouver and over 300 people were injured when the deadliest west coast tornado in recorded history struck just before 1pm. Vancouver's Peter S. Ogden Elementary School was demolished. Many students were trapped and injured. The tornado went on to level a nearby bowling alley and shopping center before dissipating after a nearly eight mile long path of destruction. The Vancouver tornado of 1972 was also the deadliest in the United States in 1972."

"Oregon and Washington have reported a combined total of 202 tornados since records have been kept in 1950. Those totals are split nearly equally between the two states with most registering either an F0 or F1 (called an EF0 and EF1 now days). Only two tornados in Oregon and Washington history have been classified as an F3. The first struck near Seattle on December 12th 1969 with only a few injuries reported. The second was the deadly Vancouver, Washington tornado in 1972."