PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Sunday marks the 54th anniversary of the Vancouver F3 tornado of April 5, 1972, and stands alone in the record books.
It is the holy grail of Pacific Northwest tornadoes. Even now, 54 years later, the 1972 Vancouver tornado is to this day the single deadliest tornado to ever strike west of the Rocky Mountains, killing six people and injuring more than 300.
Those who lived through that deadly day witnessed the fury of Mother Nature to a degree that is not likely to be matched again in any of our lifetimes. The 1972 tornado was similar in atmospheric structure to many local tornados of the past, including that of the Hazel Dell EF1 tornado of January 2008.
Tracking the 1972 tornado as it whipped through NE Portland, Vancouver
However, the 1972 tornado was much stronger. The 2008 Hazel Dell tornado was an EF1 on the newer Enhanced Fujita scale. Winds were likely between 90 and 110 MPH in the 2008 Hazel Dell tornado. The Vancouver tornado of 1972 was rated as an F3 under the original Fujita scale, which came online in 1971. Winds during the 1972 Vancouver tornado were estimated between 158 and 206 MPH when rated as an F3.
Unlike tornadoes east of the Rockies, tornadoes in the Pacific Northwest are referred to by many as “cold core” due to their lack of humid and buoyant air. The Pacific Ocean keeps our atmosphere relatively mild year-round. This is not conducive to the formation of supercell thunderstorms needed to generate the really large and damaging tornadoes you might see in the Midwest.
What happened on April 5, 1972?
What makes the 1972 tornado so rare is the fact that it was able to spin up to F3 status and stay on the ground for nearly 8 miles. Meteorologists have hypothesized that both the Willamette Valley and the West Hills could aid in the development of tornadoes across Clark County. Although the larger mechanism at play for these tornadoes lies in the atmosphere above us, Vancouver sits in a rare atmospheric location, on the downslope side of Portland’s West Hills…