EF0 tornado, Blitzen, Oregon, June 1, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF0

Date

June 1, 2019

Touchdown

12:17 PM PDT (19:17 UTC)

Lifted

12:31 PM PDT (19:31 UTC)

On the ground

14 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.1 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Harney County

Touchdown point

42.660, -119.000

Lift-off point

42.669, -118.978

Record number

1906011317-01

A persistent trough of low pressure situated over northern Nevada coupled with warm, moist air aided in severe thunderstorm development, including a tornado, over parts of Southeast Oregon.

A tornado was observed and reported just South of French Glen. No damage was reported.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:04 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

NWS Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jun 1, 8:20 AM PDT, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Boise ID
920 AM MDT Sat Jun 1 2019

.DISCUSSION...Most of the area is sunny this morning, but a band
of scattered clouds was running from southern Malheur County
northeast across the Treasure Valley and on into the Boise and
West-Central Mountains of Idaho. Scattered showers and
thunderstorms are expected again this afternoon and evening across
the area...mostly in the higher terrain. No changes will be made
to the forecast at this time.

&&

.AVIATION...Mostly VFR. Another round of scattered showers and
thunderstorms expected this afternoon and into the early evening.
Heavy rain associated with activity may produce periods of MVFR
conditions at impacted terminals. Surface winds: North to
northeast 5 to 10 kts except in thunderstorms where gusts to 25
kts will be possible. Winds aloft at 10kft MSL: East to northeast
5 to 10 kts.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...
SHORT TERM...Today through Tuesday...Air mass will continue moist
and unstable with afternoon showers and thunderstorms through
Monday due to persistent upper trough over southern California and
Nevada. On Tuesday drier westerly flow aloft will come into our
CWA with mostly sunny skies. Max temperatures will be 2 to 5
degrees above normal through Tuesday. Light winds expect near
thunderstorms.

LONG TERM...Tuesday night through Saturday...Dry zonal flow on
Wednesday will turn southwesterly by Thursday as an upper low
approaches, ushering in more unsettled conditions. Isolated showers
and thunderstorms Thursday afternoon/evening ahead of a trough that
will drop temperatures nearly 10 degrees below normal. This strong
system will cause snow levels to fall to around 5500-6500 ft MSL on
Friday. The threat of showers and thunderstorms will persist into
the weekend with most coverage expected over the West Central Idaho
Mountains.

&&

.BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...None.
OR...None.

&&

www.weather.gov/Boise
www.facebook.com/NWSBoise
www.twitter.com/NWSBoise

DISCUSSION...SP
AVIATION.....KB
PREV SHORT TERM...LC
PREV LONG TERM....AL

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Rome (REO), 92 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in OregonEvery tornado in Oregon since 1950Warnings in force in Oregon nowThe forecast where you are

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.