Tornado in Washington state

[gatt[_2_]]

Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long time.
I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. They said
there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a peculiar
feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're at, but we
don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.

Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it almost
seem to start up again over the building I work in. I watched it from
across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. One of our coworkers was in
a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside the
window. (She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass storefront
gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked into the air and
a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)

Missed NWPilot's airfield by just a few miles. From the looks of the
damage, it would have tossed everything there.

The weather forecast had not called for thunderstorms or significant
activity at all.

-c

[Jim Stewart]

gatt wrote:
> Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long time.
> I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. They said
> there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a peculiar
> feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're at, but we
> don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>
> Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it almost
> seem to start up again over the building I work in. I watched it from
> across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. One of our coworkers was in
> a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside the
> window. (She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass storefront
> gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked into the air and
> a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)

Had the same thing happen here in the
Sacramento valley two or three years
ago. Heard the alert, went out in the
backyard and watched a small but very
nasty little storm system dance it's way
past about 3 miles south of me. Serious
lightning and thunder, dark gray columns
of cloud/water and 40-50 mph winds from
where I was at. I would not liked to
have been any closer.

[JGalban via AviationKB.com]

gatt wrote:
> They said
>there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a peculiar
>feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're at, but we
>don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>

We've had a few here in Phoenix over the years. Even though we have some
pretty violent summer storms, the only tornados I recall were during freak
winter thunderstorms. They were skinny and white colored. The weather guys
called them "cold funnels". There was no supercell associated with them.

In the early 90s, I was home sick and had my handheld scanning the PHX
frequencies. I heard a United pilot tell the tower he had a tornado in sight
and his description put it very close to my house. I walked out front and
there it was, 2 miles up the road. Since tornados seek out fragile things
on the ground (like trailer parks), this one had made a beeline for a huge
plant nursery with half a dozen old, all-glass greenhouses. I'm glad I
wasn't in the vicinity. The funnel was skinny and looked pretty weak, but it
was strong enough to shatter most of the glass on those big greenhouses.

A couple of years later, I turned on the news and one of the local news
helicopter jockeys was actually circling around a cold funnel on the north
side of town. The pics were pretty impressive.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/aviation/200801/1

[[email protected]]

On Jan 11, 10:14*am, "gatt" > wrote:
> Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long time.
> I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. *They said
> there was a tornado warning and described the location. * It's a peculiar
> feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're at, but we
> don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>
> Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it almost
> seem to start up again over the building I work in. *I watched it from
> across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. *One of our coworkers was in
> a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside the
> window. *(She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass storefront
> gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked into the air and
> a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)
>
> Missed NWPilot's airfield by just a few miles. *From the looks of the
> damage, it would have tossed everything there.
>
> The weather forecast had not called for thunderstorms or significant
> activity at all.
>
> -c

Pretty much all the "tornadoes" that we get in the PNW are mild F1
types that don't last long, and are usually association with small
convective cells. Other than blower around garbage cans and knocking
down old fences, they don't do a lot of damage.

[Darkwing]

"gatt" > wrote in message
...
>
> Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long
> time. I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. They
> said there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a
> peculiar feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're
> at, but we don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>
> Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it
> almost seem to start up again over the building I work in. I watched it
> from across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. One of our coworkers
> was in a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside
> the window. (She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass
> storefront gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked
> into the air and a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)
>
> Missed NWPilot's airfield by just a few miles. From the looks of the
> damage, it would have tossed everything there.
>
> The weather forecast had not called for thunderstorms or significant
> activity at all.
>
> -c

Here in the midwest it is pretty common to under a tornado watch on about
any given spring/summer afternoon but we did have tornado watches earlier
this week! I've only seen one in my life, I couldn't believe how many people
drove to see it like I did, that was pretty funny. Next day went up and
checked it out in a Cessna, you could see the path through the fields with
all the corn knocked down and you could see the debris all over the place.

[C J Campbell[_1_]]

On 2008-01-11 13:26:01 -0800, said:

>
> Pretty much all the "tornadoes" that we get in the PNW are mild F1
> types that don't last long, and are usually association with small
> convective cells. Other than blower around garbage cans and knocking
> down old fences, they don't do a lot of damage.

This one was the exception. It tore up trees, destroyed roofs, picked
up cars, etc. Probably the strongest tornado that Washington has had in
centuries.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

[gatt[_2_]]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
news:2008011113580082327-christophercampbell@hotmailcom...
> On 2008-01-11 13:26:01 -0800, said:
>
>>
>> Pretty much all the "tornadoes" that we get in the PNW are mild F1
>> types that don't last long, and are usually association with small
>> convective cells. Other than blower around garbage cans and knocking
>> down old fences, they don't do a lot of damage.
>
> This one was the exception. It tore up trees, destroyed roofs, picked up
> cars, etc. Probably the strongest tornado that Washington has had in
> centuries.

I just checked on a friend's house. Missed it by a few hundred yards. The
trailer that got knocked over had the name "TIP" printed along the sides.
Apparently it wasn't as bad as the one that hit in '72 and killed a few
people, but I think that's the only other significant one on record.

-c

[NW_Pilot]

Yea, had me sweating a bit just finished annnual and I am tied down
outside...


"gatt" > wrote in message
...
>
> Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long
> time. I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. They
> said there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a
> peculiar feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're
> at, but we don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>
> Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it
> almost seem to start up again over the building I work in. I watched it
> from across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. One of our coworkers
> was in a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside
> the window. (She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass
> storefront gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked
> into the air and a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)
>
> Missed NWPilot's airfield by just a few miles. From the looks of the
> damage, it would have tossed everything there.
>
> The weather forecast had not called for thunderstorms or significant
> activity at all.
>
> -c
>
>
>

[Slug]

gatt wrote:
> Yesterday was the first time I've heard a real EBS broadcast in a long time.
> I finished gassing my jeep and going to lunch when I heard it. They said
> there was a tornado warning and described the location. It's a peculiar
> feeling when you realize they're describing right where you're at, but we
> don't have real tornadoes here so I didn't even think about it.
>
> Amazingly, it had just dissipated when it went overhead, and then it almost
> seem to start up again over the building I work in. I watched it from
> across the highway and saw the cloud collapse. One of our coworkers was in
> a stripmall and literally saw the whole thing happen right outside the
> window. (She said everybody was standing behind the plate-glass storefront
> gawking at the hailstorm when debris started getting sucked into the air and
> a trailer flipped in the parking lot.)
>
> Missed NWPilot's airfield by just a few miles. From the looks of the
> damage, it would have tossed everything there.
>
> The weather forecast had not called for thunderstorms or significant
> activity at all.
>
> -c
>
>
>

Don't forget to file your visual weather report with Owl
Gore and the global warming moon bats. And by the way, the
tornado is George Bush's fault