The Deadliest Tornado in the Pacific Northwest - April 5, 1972
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2024
- Today we look at the infamous F3 tornado that struck Vancouver, Washington in 1972. It is the deadliest tornado to ever strike the Pacific Northwest, killing 6 and injuring 300.
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*The tornado in the thumbnail is of a different F3 that hit Washington in 1969. There are no known photos of the Vancouver F3.
The Deadliest Tornado in the Pacific Northwest - April 5, 1972
As a Portland resident, I'd hope people would be smart if we got a tornado warning but likely people wouldn't take it seriously since we never get them. Our position right on the columbia river gorge and a few hours from the coast means strong winds are nothing unusual either. I imagine people would have to see the tornado itself before taking it seriously.
Also thank you for covering the PNW! We're often times forgotten given how secluded we are. If we do come up in these kinds of videos, it's usually about st helens rather than the long history of strong wind storms we have or something else.
Hey I was hoping you'd see this one! I've been reading a lot on past west coast windstorms and am going to cover a few more soon
@@weatherboxstudios Just happened to check my sub box the moment you uploaded. Glad to hear we'll get some more PNW content soon! I imagine the columbus day storm and the 2021 PNW heat wave are probably the obvious things to look at? Really can't stress enough how much the heat wave and recent wild fires have changed life up up here.
Agreed! Even growing up we arent taught much about this history
Aside from literally no warning, many areas outside of Tornado Alley did not have tornado sirens. That became evident 2 years later, because areas to the West of Huntsville, Brandenburg, and Xenia didn't even have warning sirens. Within a year by 1975, Xenia had 10 sirens erected.
@@mattkowal90 I don't think a single city on the west coast has tornado sirens. They do have tsunami sirens though. Earthquakes are just more of a threat here.
Your meteorological insights into how these storms form down to the details are so amazing, I could watch your videos for hours and never get tired of hearing you explain the weather!
I am from Oklahoma and was a storm chaser in Texas for 2 years but moved to Washington state in 2006. Very interesting video. I understand why the weather happens in tornado alley but this helped me understand our weather up here more which I got more into after we had an EF2 hit the state back in 2018. Thanks!
@Marcus Plays where were you?
@Marcus Plays My dad is rarely in port orchard and saw that tornado happen. Crazy day.
I'm originally from Port Orchard but have lived in Oklahoma for over a decade. Imagine my shock when my mother told me they had a tornado in her town for a change.
I don’t understand why this channel doesn’t have at least a hundred thousand followers. it’s one of the best storm/weather channels that i’ve seen.
Still doesn't! Nuts!
On skibidi
As someone who lives in WA state, this video is super fascinating to me! I'm in Spokane, so we get far less rain than the coastal cities, but we still get some massive windstorms. Last year in May, two EF0 tornadoes touched down on the same day, which is absolutely wild since there had previously only been 13 confirmed tornadoes in Spokane since the 1950s. Having two in the same day was absolutely insane! One even touched down a few blocks from my house. As a huge weather fan, I saw what looked like small rotation in the clouds, but thought I was losing it since we never get any tornadoes here. I figured my habit of watching storm chasing and unique weather videos had caught up to me, and so I went and took a nap (and missed the whole damn thing). Super interesting day, especially because it's nearly unheard of in the area! Thank you for covering the PNW!
I'm a Seattle native, and the PNW really doesn't rain all year the way some people think it does! For the past decade or so (thanks climate change!) summers have actually been quite dry and there have been a lot of problems with droughts and wildfires. (Not to the same degree as California, obviously, but more than people would think.) However, the wet seasons are VERY wet, and it is overcast a good percentage of the time even if it doesn't actually rain.
Ohh great the fucking coastie is going to tell us what the weather has been 😂 thanks now please quit fucking up my life with your crazy politics
I remembered when that happened, if the storm developed sooner it could have taken out the homeless camp and that could have been very deadly. I remembered the 2004 tornado that hit Fairchild AFB located few miles west of Spokane. I lived on base at the time so I was very aware of it. Funny is that I have been through more tornadoes in the state of Washington than the state of Texas near the city of San Antonio.
Grew up in WA, living here in ND, we get far more tornadoes and it’s terrifying lol I love the weather but the storms out here on the plains are fkn terrifying.
I grew up about 45 north of seattle. Yeah we've had some dry summers, but the atmospheric rivers have been dumping the last few years. I moved back to WA in 21 to 22 and we almost had a constant river that whole time. It is definitely overcast a majority of the time lol
Your graphs/animations for the meteorology of these setups is always amazing!
Ah my hometown. It does rain a lot here, but I didn't know why all the rain "disappeared" in the summer. Learned something today. I really enjoy your channel. Whatever you do don't change the 80s VCR vibe you got going on, I really like it.
this is seriously one of the most underappreciated channels ever
You've covered events from the classic alley, dixie alley, the ohio valley, the northeast, and now the pacific northwest. I'd love to hear about an outbreak in Carolina alley. 1998, & 2011 spring to mind, but I am sure there are others. Love the music you make to start each video, it keeps it unique. Rock On
The 1984 Carolinas outbreak would be a great one to cover!
The Enigma Outbreak is fascinating as it differs quite a lot from the other super outbreaks; but it is an enigma, after all.
@@amandaellis9821agree
It's mind blowing to me when people don't know what's happening but immediately start helping because that's just who they are as people
The teachers at the high school tried to get their students to stay put but they knew the kids at PSO needed help, I'm sure glad they came.
Love the focus on these older, more obscure tornado outbreaks rather than just focusing on something we all already know about, like El Reno or Tuscaloosa. Also the editing style just suits the topic most of the time, with the synth wave music at the beginning. *chef’s kiss*
Truck driver by trade but weather enthusiast all my life, study a lot in my spare time simply for the enjoyment of the knowledge, and gotten into storm chasing the last few years in my spare time. Just discovered your channel and have been loving it man! Keep up the awesome work! Perfect complement to a lot of the chasing channels I follow. You are very well spoken and explain things extremely well! Keep it up!
Super excited to see my state being talked about on here! Tornadoes have been a bit more of a topic than usual here recently because of a few recent, strange winter tornadic events. I know a few people that got displaced a few years back due to a freak tornado that hit a set of apartments and small homes in a developed area.
I've lived on the PNW coast all my life, and have lived in the Portland metro area for a decade and have never heard of this tornado. It's so interesting because we had a tornado hit the I5 bridge a few years ago now, and people thought it was the end of the world. Great work, you explained weather patterns better than most of my college professors!
after watching your videos i finally understood how roughly tornadoes form, how hurricanes take place and why the easterlies and westerlies even exist, you're amazing
He needs to have his own show on TWC! I will say this again your content is amazing! The way you break everything down is awesome
Your videos pull off The early 90's TWC aesthetic perfectly. And your delivery of these events is spot on! Keep up the good work!
I like this series you have going about out-of-place tornado outbreaks! These sorts of small "tornado alleys" really intrigue me. I had a video suggestion regarding a somewhat similar topic. You might have seen the EF3 Deer Park tornado in the news a couple weeks ago. What's interesting, though, is that out of the violent tornadoes like that one that have struck the Houston area in the past 50 years (4 in total), all of them have been in the wintertime relatively close to the coast on the east side of town, following a general SE-NW path, similar to the Deer Park storm. The most famous of these was the 1992 Channelview tornado. Maybe you could do a video either on that tornado, or maybe investigate and see if this pattern is just coincidence or if there is something else going on.
P.S. You're probably one of my favorite weather UA-camrs out there! Keep on doing what you are doing!
Very fascinating and adds proof to the point that a tornado can occur anywhere and no place is 💯 immune from the possibility of a tornado.
never been so early to one of ur vids!!
I'm just 19 minutes away from preview. I never get this early.
The one in 2016 you cited was actually super unique and interesting, as it started about 3 miles off the coastline from the mouth of Tillamook Bay as a Waterspout, and managed to continue to progress east-northeast until it made landfall and wrecked through Rockaway Beach and Manzanita. This wasn't the only one of the cluster though, as apparently there was a few others, one being also in Oregon, though it didn't last much more than a couple minutes before dissipating, and then a few along the Washington coastline, with the main one happening just after Rockaway's completed its tenure, going through the towns along Willapa Bay. Though it was of similar strength and length, it caused less overall damage than its sibling to the south.
Outside of those, I recall the tornado that happened in Stayton and Aumsville, with Aumsville being the main epicenter of its power and destruction, which lead to it being forever dubbed as the "Aumsville Tornado". That one happened a few years before the one in Rockaway Beach. Can't quite recall the year, but 2008 for some reason sounds about right to me. That was also in a couple of years where the east side of the Salem region wound up experiencing a surprising amount of funnel clouds and proper tornado touchdowns. Two years in a row. So the Aumsville and the Rockaway beach ones are the ones that will live on in my memory for the rest of my life with genuine excitement and pride. (I love severe storms)
I've been in the Seattle area almost 20 years now and I learned something about our weather here today, thanks to you. It's funny, after moving here from Chicago where there are plenty of thunderstorms I've now grown so accustomed to the lack of severe weather here that even just hearing thunder is a surprise. Thanks for the coverage of a noteworthy weather day out here!
Thank you for this. The 4-5 -72 tornado in Vancouver is not widely known. I was in the 6th grade at Peter S.Ogden and we were just getting done with lunch recess. It started to hail (about the size of shooter marbles) and the few stragglers like me took cover under the eves of the 6th grade building. The clouds looked like they were in a duel hand mixer. I was on the west side of the building and one of our teachers, Mr. Kennedy grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and dragged me to the north side of the 6th grade building where we watched the school flying over our heads with about a dozen other kuds. We then ran over downed live wires across a farmers field and took cover in some business across from the Renfro Drive In theater where the screen had blown down. Eventually we walked to Fort Vancover High and after awhile just walked home.
My mom had to pick some splinters and other debris out of my scalp with tweezers but I was pretty much unscathed. My friend Randy (who was in my class) mom was killed at the bowling alley. She was a hero getting the kids out before the wall fell on her. The bowling alley owner broke his back trying to get her out.
I was watching the ball game and saw you guys on the west side lining up at the west door right before I ran to my 5th grade classroom as it started dumping rain.
I live on the Oregon coast, and in 2016 a nearby town named Manzanita got hit by a high end EF-2 tornado. I drove through there a few weeks later, and nearly a third of the trees in the town were destroyed. There was even another weak waterspout that touched down on the bay in front my house on the same day.
Edit: didn't see the end of the video lol
everyone in the PNW needs to watch this video at .5x speed and comprehend every bit of it before we can start to prepare ourselves for climate change and the increased risk of more tornadoes here.
Thanks so much for this incredibly vid. You're an entrepreneur on this.
seriously feel lucky to have been recommended this channel, can't wait to see you grow bro!!!
Interesting tornado. Great video as usual!
Thank you!
We also had one in the 2000s that I live through. It was on a direct path to my school, but luckily lifted, and then re-came down in battleground it was scary.
I love your videos and you do such a great job of explaining meteorological ideas that make it understandable for a hobbyist.
Love your content! I’m finding that I’ve already watched most, but I enjoy them so much and feel like you pack every video with valuable information that I don’t mind setting them multiple times. 😄 Thanks for all of your efforts!
Finally got notice this video was posted. 6-7 hours ago. Love me some Weatherbox!
This is such a great channel. Amazing content. Also dig the retro music vibes
So awesome, Seeing those dewpoints in C made so much more sense lol. You are amazing for adding C for us metric users! Great video like always.
Nice work! another fun, informative, and entertaining content as always! Quick question, what collar microphone do you use?
There’s a lot of great weather channels on UA-cam, yours is right up there with any of them. Please do a video on the Moore tornados. I live in Moore and I think I’ve seen every analysis video ever on the 2 F5’s that tore through here. Please do that next!
you broke this down really well thanks for this
Very well done- your videos are nicely put together, and very informative.
As a storm chaser from the Pacific Northwest, I appreciate this video and the meteorological breakdown (as well as the other videos). You deserve more subscribers!
Thankyou so much for covering the PNW, there's not a lot of content on it!
I just stumbled on your channel and THIS IS MY 1st Video. It is OUTSTANDING!!! All the STATS, DEFINITIONS, EXPLANATIONS, AND PHOTOS, VIDEOS ARE SPECTACULAR!!
HIGH 5!!! ✋🏻
I'm only 29 but I love hearing about these older storms.
I never expected to see my city turn up on this channel. What a surreal watch.
I accidentally stumbled on the channel. But it's by far my favorite Weather related channel
The algorithm blessed me and showed me this channel. Best binge in a while
Thanks for covering this one. I actually grew up in was born in Vancouver. My dad has lived there all his life as well, and actually lived through the tornado
Simply incredible knowledge and explanation of the conditions which created this event. What a video 🙂
I just found your channel, watched the back log, turned around for 5 minutes and you post again. Hahaha Lucky day
Severe storms are so rare in Western Washington. From living there, the main thunderstorm season is in late summer, August or September, when dewpoints can get up into the upper 50s ahead of some kind of cutoff upper low coming in from the southwest after a warm stretch. The storms usually have a very high base though as the fueling airmass comes from an inland source to the south. The oceanic wet season systems have showers with much lower cloud bases, but the instability is barely enough for thunder. It takes a very special hybrid setup to get severe weather.
Good to see you weatherbox
Thank you. You are a awesome teacher. Life long weather lover here.
In 1997 an EF-0 tornado went through my neighborhood in Vancouver which is along the path of the 1972 tornado between highway 500 and I-205. There was also an EF-1 in Vancouver in 2008
Every time you post i drop everything i'm doing and watch immediately.
This was a great video, thank you! Any more videos about PNW weather would be super cool.
I was near the tornado when that happened back in 1972, in a community called Hazel Dell (to the north and west of the area shown in the video). I was in school, and remember how dark it got. It was shocking to learn just a few miles away, a half dozen folks lost their lives. I will never forget that. And then, a few years ago, now living in Battle Ground (actually in a neighborhood called Meadow Glade), the other tornado mentioned in the video was a half mile from where I was at the time (and am at right now writing this note). In that one, trees got knocked over, and I think a local store lost its roof.
Subbed. This is a high-quality channel with superb research and a very distinct retro vibe. I love it.
Didn't even know about this tornado. Very good presentation.
Nice. Its always a great day when steve uploads!
Another great video! I always get so excited when you post because of the quality of your content.
Going to attend school for meterology and i love how you explain topics
You are easily my favourite weather UA-camr. You explain the technical side of weather and are easy to listen to. I used to live in South Carolina and experienced many storms, ice storms and the odd to tornado, as well as being in Florida when Hurricane Irma hit.. that was… lively. I live in the UK now and apparently we get more tornados per square mile than the US? If we do I never see them! Maybe a good topic for you to look into maybe? Great video as always - thank you.
I like the guy in the thumbnail. He's like "This nader is number 1 and if you don't like it, you can piss off!" "Whoooooo"
your channel is a great example of work hard, make good content, gain viewership
I live outside of Portland OR, but I lived for three years in Topeka, Kansas so I know to take the weather seriously.
I was a Junior at Silverton HIgh School in Oregon when this hit. A group of us always left campus to eat lunch at one of the girl's homes and we took turns cleaning up. It was on that day that I cleaned up and was running two blocks back to the school. At the first stop sign, I had to hold on as the wind had suddenly picked up. I remember looking at the sky and this low swirling cloud was so low that it seemed like I could practically touch it. And it looked like it was bubbling-- what I now know as mammatus clouds. The wind died down slightly and I can remember running and almost being picked up in the air. I was so glad to make ti back to the school Then about an hour later, it touched down in Vancouver. Considered myself very lucky and have never forgotten it!
Dude, you’re really good at this. nat geo n weather channel should b asking u to join them. Until they do I’ll gladly watch each episode u upload.
Keep up the great work, ur really teaching us a lot.
Awesome to see a PNW video! Just had a funnel cloud near Monroe, WA, today. Even thunder and lightning are rare here, but Port Orchard had an EF-2 a few years back with little to no warning!
In another video I mentioned you should do a video on the 49-50 winter that caused the greatest arctic outbreak in the PNW ever. Another great one would be the Columbus Day storm. Either way so glad I found your channel I’m a huge weather fan that has always lived in the PNW.
All the legendary weather in our region arrived before I did. Gosh I would have loved to see the Columbus Day storm
A tornado in Portland would probably be an improvement.. :-p. Jokes aside F1 and f0 storms east of the mountains are not unheard of.
I live in the Willamette valley. In Benton county. It's awesome to see you cover topics on where I call home.
As a kid living in BC who was mildly obsessed with tornadoes, I remember one instance in - I think 2003 - where an EF0 was reported in my hometown, just about 20 minutes from Creston. The only casualities were a few roof shingles, but just goes to show, even the most unlikely things can happen. Apparently another EF0 touched down in 2022.
Love seeing videos on rare tornadoes and storms. Really neat. How they didn't see a tornado really reminds me of my only personal encounter with a tornado. I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where tornadoes are rare, but definitely not unheard of. We received the tornado warning about 30-45 minutes before it actually happened. There already was a thunderstorm that came through with a lot of lightning and hail, and when that passed we assumed that was it, just another warned storm that didn't drop a tornado. I was at work at the time. My manager thought it was safe so she left for her shift but like minutes later she came running back in pretty spooked bc she said "something was not right" , like literally right after she said that I heard those noise like never before during a storm...almost like maybe God turned on his vacuum cleaner upstairs 😂 loud but muffled. I tried to see anything but there was nothing but dark gray after a few feet Infront of the building and debris flying everywhere. So then me and my manager took shelter in the supply closet while all the clueless customers looked out the windows 😂 lucky for them (and me I guess) the tornado just missed us passing about a quarter mile to the east in most wooded areas. It was later assessed to be an ef2 after hitting a few houses and uprooting some trees.
Patiently waiting for the Tuscaloosa Video. I remember that day like it was yesterday
I've always loved seeing tornado videos, it wasn't the fact that I want to chase them but surprisingly the thing I actually like is seeing people coming together to help each other because now a days I don't see that much of that going on via the media... they're more focused on stuff that's going to get more ratings.
I'm one of the kids in that 5th grade class picture. Great explanation and map work Thanks!
Love your channel!!!!
I wished we would have a brilliant channel like yours for Europe.
I just found your channel and I'm absolutely loving every video. I literally watched all of them in one sitting and now I'm desperately waiting for more. Keep up the great vids!
I love you I've missed seeing you for 2 months. I actually use TikTok less and started using UA-cam more
Excellent job buddy thank you
I was just visiting Washington state from October 4-18. Sometime during then, apparently a tornado WARNING was issued in the greater Vancouver (WA) area, based on radar data. It was cancelled five minutes later, but still.... any type of tornado warning in the PNW is remarkable.
Suggestion: do a video on the Inaugural Day Storm as mentioned in this video, or the great Columbus Day windstorm that killed 40+ people. It was essentially an extra-tropical hurricane from northern CA to BC.
Very good documentary as usual!
We used to live in Battleground before moving to Tri-Cities. When that EF0 hit Battleground we had already moved but it destroyed the shed of our old neighbors. I’ve always been fascinated with tornadoes but when that happened I thought it was so cool! (Also made it cool cause it didn’t cause too much damage or harm anyone)
Speaking of the Pacific Northwest, in Vancouver British Columbia I want to say 2 years ago a small tornado formed and went through the city, didn’t do much damage but seeing a tornado In van of all places was wild
I was 6 walking home from Harney Elementary in 1972 in that crazy wind. I was hanging onto every lampoost and anything grounded to the cement on the way. It was only 4 blocks but seemed more like 4 miles. Im thankful I wasnt in that other school that got destroyed. My dad was working near there and his building and our house was spared. I applaud the high school students that helped those kids.
Great video subbed
I’m a native of Lakewood, OH, but I’ve lived outside of Seattle for about a decade. People still talk about this tornado in southern WA. My current town experienced a December EF2 in 2018 but I was downtown Seattle when it happened. Since I’ve lived in western WA I’ve experienced 2 thunderstorms and that’s all so when we get tornadoes it’s extremely shocking.
Very interesting video. Thanks!
I have lived in Vancouver, WA most of my life. In 1972 I was living just 3 houses away from the END of that tornado. We moved shortly after that day. My father would tell me the story of that day.
In 1980, when Mt. St. Helens ERUPTED, our front room window had an unobstructed view of the mountain AND the eruption. My mother, father, and my 3siters and I sat with our knees on the couch watching it the whole day/ night UNTIL ASH was so thick we couldn't see our car in the driveway. 😲🤭😁
Late to this one brother. And after so many of these, I've come to the conclusion that if you want a meteorologist position, all it is gonna take is the seat to be open. You got IT bro
Nice video. I really think a lot of people forget this tornado.
Nice job with this video - very interesting 👍🏻
I remember that day quite vividly. I was in 8th grade at school just North of Sea-Tac airport. The sky turned an eerie green. Being a transplant from the South - I knew what that sky likely meant. A small tornado went through the Sea-Tac and Kent area and flipped over a couple of cars in a Boeing parking lot.
Steve you should do one on the Pacific Northwest December 2006 windstorm
WA State averages 2.5 tornadoes per year. There are hypotheses about the number of tornadoes being higher than reported, especially on the Olympic Peninsula. It's sparsely populated, so there is a much lower chance someone will see them. I think the increase in personal weather stations/webcams on the coast will give us more insight.
Hello weatherbox, love your content! As a Marylander I'd love a possible video on the 2002 La Plata Maryland F4 tornado 😍
You should totally do a video on the E-F2 Tornado In Port Orchard, Washington that occurred in 2018!
I grew up in Yakima Washington. Yakima is in the Central WA desert basin, nestled into a mountain-surrounded valley.
I was in first grade, sitting in class, when i looked out the window and saw groups of kids and teachers standing outside looking up at the sky. My teacher let us go outside to see what was happening. There was a rope-like funnel cloud descending down near the Yakima Reservation. We all stood in awe watching the funnel reach closer and closer to the ground taking on more of a defined tornado shape. We couldnt believe it. Tornados arent supposed to happen in Yakima valley! All my life we were taught what to do in case of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, never had we practiced what to do during a tornado! The funnel cloud never did touch down, and eventually dissapated.
I live in Indiana now, and in the last 4 months i have seen no less than three EF3 tornadoes touch down within 5 miles of me. The amount of preparedness, awareness, and fear that is felt throughout the midwest during a tornado watch is truly eye opening. Had that tornado touched down in Yakima WA, absolutely nobody would have been appropriately concerned enough to take shelter. All of us were only concerned about seeing how cool it was. My parents have lived in the area since the 60's and its still the closest theyve ever come to actually seeing a tornado.
I would love to see you do an in-depth on the Nov. 28, 1988, EF-4 tornado that ripped through Raleigh NC
As a fellow Oregonian this video was very interesting and such nice editing and very well detail about the storm.