Tornadoes · United States · Washington · 2021
EF0 tornado, Dollar Corner to Heisson, Washington, September 27, 2021
From Dollar Corner to Heisson, this EF0 tornado ran 3.9 miles across Clark County on September 27, 2021, touching down at 7:06 PM PDT and reaching 240 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- September 27, 2021
- Touchdown
- 7:06 PM PDT (02:06 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:21 PM PDT (02:21 UTC)
- On the ground
- 15 minutes
- Path length
- 3.9 miles (6.3 km)
- Path width
- 240 yards (219 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $40,000
- County
- Clark County
- Touchdown point
- 45.780, -122.598
- Lift-off point
- 45.810, -122.523
- Record number
- 2109272006-01
What the Weather Service recorded
On the evening of Monday September 27, 2021 showers in the area were quite active as a cool upper trough moved into the region. One storm cell produced an EF-0 tornado in Battle Ground, WA.
An EF-0 tornado with estimated winds of 85 mph (DI:28 ,DOD:3) began near the intersection of NE 72nd Avenue and State Highway 502 at 45.7804 latitude, -122.5982 longitude. The tornado tracked in a northeast direction, ending up near NE 259th St. and NE 147th Ave at 45.8105 latitude and -122.5229 longitude. The tornado path was about 240 yards wide with a track length of about 3.9 miles. The estimated start and end time of the tornado is 1806PST and 1821PST. No injuries or fatalities were reported. The majority of the damage was to trees that were uprooted or snapped. Other damage included a tree that fell on an RV, and fences damaged by toppled trees.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:31 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PQR |
| 03:01 UTC | 03:16 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PQR |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:50 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.
The air that afternoon
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.
Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), 00:00Z
2.1 hours before the tornado, 103 km from the path. September 28, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 124 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 381 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 618 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 85 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -23 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -22 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.6 K/km
Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), 12:00Z
9.9 hours after it, 103 km from the path. September 28, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 33 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 31 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 503 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 194 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 221 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.2 K/km
The surface observations
Pearson Airpark Vancouver (VUO), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:10 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 00:15 UTC | 190° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 00:20 UTC | 180° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 00:25 UTC | 210° 8 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 00:30 UTC | 210° 5 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 00:35 UTC | 160° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 00:40 UTC | 160° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 00:45 UTC | 160° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 00:50 UTC | 200° 4 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 00:53 UTC | 59 | 55 | 190° 7 kt | 1011.2 | ||
| 00:55 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:00 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:05 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 01:10 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 01:15 UTC | 190° 4 kt | 1011.2 | ||||
| 01:20 UTC | 170° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:25 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:30 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:35 UTC | 180° 7 kt | 1011.5 | ||||
| 01:40 UTC | 180° 7 kt | 1011.9 | -RA | |||
| 01:45 UTC | 160° 2 kt | 1011.9 | -RA BR | |||
| 01:50 UTC | 190° 4 kt | 1011.9 | -RA BR | |||
| 01:53 UTC | 58 | 54 | 180° 5 kt | 1011.9 | -RA BR | |
| 01:55 UTC | 160° 5 kt | 1011.9 | -RA | |||
| 02:00 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1011.9 | ||||
| 02:05 UTC | 180° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:10 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:15 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:20 UTC | 180° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:25 UTC | 180° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:30 UTC | 170° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:35 UTC | 170° 4 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:40 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:45 UTC | 170° 2 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:50 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 02:53 UTC | 57 | 53 | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 02:55 UTC | 180° 2 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:00 UTC | 160° 2 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:05 UTC | 160° 2 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:10 UTC | 180° 2 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:20 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:25 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:30 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1012.2 | ||||
| 03:35 UTC | 100° 2 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 03:40 UTC | 140° 4 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 03:45 UTC | 150° 4 kt | 1012.5 | ||||
| 03:53 UTC | 56 | 53 | 3 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 03:55 UTC | 150° 2 kt | 1012.9 | ||||
| 04:00 UTC | 130° 4 kt | 1013.2 | ||||
| 04:05 UTC | 150° 5 kt | 1013.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Portland,OR radar (KRTX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:08 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:06 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nw Battle Ground | Clark, WA | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT EF-0 TORNADO ESTIMATED MAX WIND GUST: 85MPH. |
| 02:06 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nw Battle Ground | Clark, WA | ESTIMATED MAX WIND GUST: 85MPH. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in WashingtonEvery tornado in Washington since 1950Warnings in force in Washington nowThe forecast where you are
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.