A landspout tornado touched down in Richland, WA on the afternoon of March 31st in an open area. The tornado was captured on video and appeared to be quite weak.
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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.
The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.
A landspout tornado touched down in Richland, WA on the afternoon of March 31st in an open area. The tornado was captured on video and appeared to be quite weak. No damage was reported.
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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 31, 12:49 PM PST, 41 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
149 PM PDT Tue Mar 31 2020
.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Friday...A large scale upper level
trough will remain over the region through the short term. This will
keep temperatures cooler than normal with occasional breezy and
brisk winds. There will be several shortwaves moving through the
trough over the coming days which will produce occasional showers.
Combine this with the heating instability of the day and the showers
will be most prolific during the afternoon through early evening
periods. Showers will range from isolated to scattered along the
east slopes of the Cascades and throughout the Columbia Basin to
more numerous over the mountains and valleys. This Spring time
convection could even produce a few thunderstorms with Wednesday
looking like everywhere in the forecast area is at least at a slight
risk of thunderstorms. Some further snow accumulations will be
likely but also spotty due to the nature of convective showers
producing brief heavy precipitation.
.LONG TERM...Friday night through Tuesday...The upper level trough
will be in the process of moving off to the east late Friday so
showers will come to an end Friday night. However, the next weather
system will drop out of the Gulf of Alaska and take up a position
along the west coast over the weekend. This will turn the flow
southwesterly on Saturday and begin to lift some more moisture and
precipitation into the forecast area over the weekend followed by a
trough passage on Monday. Tuesday the trough exits to the east for a
brief dry day before another system arrives for midweek. Welcome to
Spring in the pacific Northwest.
&&
.AVIATION...18Z TAFs...Numerous showers will continue through this
evening then taper off overnight. For the next few hours, CIGS will
be 1500-3000 feet and VSBYs between 2-5SM -SHRASN at KRDM and KBDN
before changing to rain showers and predominantly VFR. Showers this
afternoon and evening may briefly lower CIGS/VSBYS to MVFR at KDLS,
KPDT, and KALW. Mid level clouds can be expected tonight with CIGS
AOA 6K feet. Westerly winds will increase to 10-18 kts and gusts to
25 kts today...decreasing overnight. Wister
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT 32 49 31 50 / 30 50 30 20
ALW 33 50 32 51 / 40 40 30 30
PSC 36 55 33 56 / 20 20 20 20
YKM 30 52 29 54 / 20 30 20 20
HRI 34 54 32 55 / 20 30 20 20
ELN 28 48 26 50 / 20 30 20 20
RDM 26 44 24 47 / 20 40 20 10
LGD 30 41 27 44 / 40 70 30 40
GCD 27 39 26 42 / 40 60 30 20
DLS 35 52 35 54 / 30 40 20 20
&&
.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Weather Advisory until 8 PM PDT this evening for ORZ502-
503-506-509.
Winter Storm Warning until 8 PM PDT this evening for ORZ050.
WA...Winter Weather Advisory until 8 PM PDT this evening for WAZ030-
520.
&&
91/91/85PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
857 AM PDT TUE MAR 31 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 AM SNOW 9 NW SENECA 44.24N 119.09W
03/31/2020 M3.2 INCH GRANT OR TRAINED SPOTTER
3.2 INCHES IN 24 HOURS
&&
MWISTERPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
1025 AM PDT TUE MAR 31 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1000 AM HEAVY SNOW 6 SW JOSEPH 45.29N 117.32W
03/31/2020 E12.0 INCH WALLOWA OR PUBLIC
FACEBOOK POST OF 12 INCHES OF SNOW NEAR HURRICANE CREEK
TRAILHEAD. SNOW CONTINUES TO FALL.
&&
MWISTERPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
1221 PM PDT TUE MAR 31 2020
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1120 AM HEAVY SNOW SSE JOSEPH 45.35N 117.23W
03/31/2020 M7.5 INCH WALLOWA OR COCORAHS
7.5 INCHES IN 24 HOURS
&&
MWISTERThe Pendleton radar (KPDT), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:28 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple public videos of a weak landspout tornado on the north side of Richland, WA in an open area. No damage reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Washington, 2020Warnings in Washington, March 2020
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: 874452.