Funnel Cloud, Polk
- When
- June 21, 9:14 AM PST
- Where
- Polk County, Salem
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 44.904, -123.413 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Funnel Cloud in Oregon, June 21, 2003
Weather observers at the Salem Airport Control Tower reported a funnel cloud 5 miles west of Salem.
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 happened
The episode as NWS PQR wrote it up.
Weather observers at the Salem Airport Control Tower reported a funnel cloud 5 miles west of Salem.
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 Portland, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 21, 8:00 AM PST, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 8:00 AM PST, 1 hour 14 minutes before
NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 900 AM PDT SAT JUN 21 2003 .SYNOPSIS...UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. HOWEVER...BY MID WEEK A WARMER AND DRIER AIR MASS WILL MOVE OVER THE FORECAST AREA FOR MORE SUMMER LINE WEATHER. .DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...THE NEXT WEATHER FEATURE TO IMPACT THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST IS CURRENTLY NEAR VANCOUVER ISLAND. THIS SHORT WAVE IS FORECAST TO SWING THROUGH NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS FEATURE APPEARS TO BE STRONGER THAN YESTERDAYS SHORT WAVE WITH COOLER AIR ALOFT AND BETTER DYNAMICS. THUS...GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF YESTERDAYS SHOWERS WILL ADD ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE FORECAST AREA FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THE ONLY FLY IN THE OINTMENT COULD BE A FAIRLY STRONG CAP AT 700 MB. HOWEVER...MID LEVEL COLD ADVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE APPROACHING SHORT WAVE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO AT LEAST WEAKEN THE INVERSION. ANOTHER PLANNED CHANGE FOR THIS PACKAGE WILL BE TO LOWER FREEZING LEVELS SIGNIFICANTLY. SALEM RAOB INDICATING A 5500 FOOT FREEZING LEVEL. THIS WAS VERIFIED BY A REPORT FROM TIMBERLINE LODGE THIS MORNING OF 0.5 INCHES OF SNOW WITH STICKING SNOW DOWN TO 5000 FEET. WILL TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT MODEL DIFFERENCES FOR NEXT SHEARING TROUGH MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT AS TIME ALLOWS. .LONG TERM...NO CHANGES. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOWS... BIG QUESTION WHICH SOLUTION IS CORRECT IF ANY. GFS SHOWS WARM ADVECTION RAIN OVER N PART OF AREA MON NIGHT AND TUE. ETA/CANADIAN SHOWS CHANCE OF SHOWER THREAT WITH SHEARED TROUGH. EURO STILL SHOWS STRONG UPPER LOW WEATHER. CURRENT FORECAST OF SHOWER THREAT LOOKS THE BEST WAY TO GO AND WITH UNCERTAIN SOLUTION WILL GO CHANCE FOR AREA MON NIGHT AND TUE AND DECREASING TUE NIGHT. ALL MODELS SHOW UPPER RIDGE BUILDING TOWARDS AREA MID WEEK AND BEYOND AND WILL GO WITH WARMER DRIER WEATHER. KOSOVITZ AST 84523 PDX 66411 SLE 55411 EUG 22211 .PQR...NONE.
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 21, 9:03 AM PST, 11 minutes before
ORZ001>013-WAZ019>023-039-040-221430- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON 1000 AM PST SAT JUN 21 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING FUNNEL CLOUDS. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO SKYWARN PROCEDURE .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO SKYWARN PROCEDURE
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jun 21, 8:49 AM PST, 25 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
949 AM PDT SAT JUN 21 2003
TIME(PDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0945 AM DALLAS OR FUNNEL CLOUD
06/21/03 POLK TWO SEPARATE FUNNEL
CLOUDS REPORTED BY PUBLIC
- 5 MILES SOUTH OF
DALLAS. ONE REPORTED
GUSTY WINDS PUSHING CAR
AROUND.Local storm report, Jun 21, 9:09 AM PST, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
1009 AM PDT SAT JUN 21 2003
TIME(PDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1005 AM RICKREALL OR FUNNEL CLOUD
06/21/03 POLK PUBLIC REPORTS FUNNEL
CLOUD FORMS AND REFORMS
WITH GUSTY SURFACE
WINDS.The radar
The Portland,OR radar (KRTX), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:15 UTC.
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
- Lightning Strike in Florida, June 21, 2003
- Tornadoes and Hail in Wyoming, June 21, 2003
- Flood in Florida, June 21 to 30, 2003
- Hail in South Dakota, June 21, 2003
- Flood in Florida, June 21 to 23, 2003
- Hail in South Dakota, June 21, 2003
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, June 21, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Delaware, June 21, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in North Dakota, June 21, 2003
- Tornado in Oregon, June 21, 2003
- Flash Flood in Mississippi, June 21, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Dakota, June 21, 2003
More
Every storm in Oregon in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, June 2003
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: 5365319.