Funnel Cloud, Thurston
- When
- May 15, 6:45 PM PST
- Where
- Thurston County, Olympia
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 46.930, -122.832 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Funnel Cloud in Washington, May 15, 2001
1 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 15, 5:55 PM PST, 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 15, 5:55 PM PST, 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
655 PM PDT TUE MAY 15 2001
...SPECIAL INTERIM FORECAST DISCUSSION...
AT 0130Z SATELLITE IMAGERY AND SURFACE REPORTS SHOW A DEEPENING
1003MB LOW MOVING ONTO THE NW OLYMPIC PENINSULA COASTLINE. THE LOW
APPEARS TO CONTINUE DEEPENING WITH PRESSURE FALLING A BIT IMMEDIATELY
BEHIND THE ASSOCIATED FRONTAL PASSAGE. A TRACK OVER THE OLYMPICS THEN
TO NEAR KBLI BY 11PM LOOKS GOOD. STG PRES FALLS CONTINUE IN THE N
INTR.
MAYBE THE 12Z MM5 WAS A LITTLE OVERDONE WITH ITS DEVELOPMENT...THE
18Z MESOETA LOOKS A BIT BETTER. BUT WILL STICK WITH CURRENT WARNING
PACKAGE AS CONDITIONS DEVELOP. WARNINGS MAY BE OVERDONE ON THE COAST
AS A BENT BACK OCCLUSION PER 12Z MM5 HAS FAILED TO MATERIALIZE
YET...BUT A STRONG SURGE SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE STRAIT ABOUT 9 PM
AND STRONG PRES RISES DEVELOPING FROM THE S SHOULD BRING NEAR HI WIND
CONDITIONS TO THE SW INTERIOR AND PGTSND 9-10 PM.
UIL +320 SEA +210 OLM +210 ALBRECHT
.SEW...STORM WARNING NORTHERN HOOD CANAL AND CENTRAL/E ENTRANCE
STRAIT...
...GALE WARNING ALL WATERS...
...HIGH WIND WARNING WRN WA GRAYS HARBOR/LEWIS COUNTIES NWD.
.KATX...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Michigan, May 15 to 17, 2001
- Hail in North Dakota, May 15, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Ohio, May 15, 2001
- Tornadoes and Hail in Minnesota, May 15, 2001
- Hail in Michigan, May 15, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Indiana, May 15, 2001
- Wildfire in New York, May 15, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in Michigan, May 15, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Ohio, May 15, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Virginia, May 15, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Wisconsin, May 15, 2001
- Hail in Minnesota, May 15, 2001
More
Every storm in Washington in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, May 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5243831.