Oregon, 2003

Tornado in Oregon, June 21, 2003

June 21, 2003 · NWS PQR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 Portland, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 21, 8:00 AM PST, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 8:00 AM PST, 1 hour 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, 6:30 AM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
ORZ001>013-WAZ019>023-039-040-221430-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
630 AM PST SAT JUN 21 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST
WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.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, 11 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.

The radar

The Portland,OR radar (KRTX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:00 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Polk

When
June 21, 9:00 AM PST
Where
Polk County, Independence
Rating
F1
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
30 yd
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
44.850, -123.183

According to a report from the public, a tornado touched down for approximately 5 minutes near Independence. No damage was reported.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Oregon in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oregon, 2003Warnings 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: 5365318.