Tornado alley? Not quite, but yes they do happen

Western Washington is hardly tornado alley, but over the Labor Day weekend we did see a confirmed tornado that did some damage in east King County, and even reports of a waterspout or two.

Surprised? Most of us probably were, but the fact is our state sees two to three tornadoes each year, mostly little guys but even at that the winds are typically around 100 mph when a tornado does touch down. In our record year of 1997, more than a dozen tornadoes were confirmed in Washington. Along with the record rain from the weekend, the mini-twisters did some damage, tearing up a farm and generally causing a bit of a hub-bub.

Why did they happen? The big tornadoes of the midwest are very different animal than what we see here, and pop in what is typically much warmer weather under conditions that build much more powerful storms -- often including damaging hail. Here our tornadoes are usually found in conditions just as we had this weekend, popping up in the wake of an out-of-season late spring or early fall storm such as passed through on Friday night and Saturday. As the storm moves by, it leaves a lot of turbulent, cold air -- which mixes itself out and settles down eventually, but usually only after a little thunder and lightning, and in the case of this weekend, a small tornado. Fortunately, our weather conditions usually keep the lid on the pot, preventing really large tornadoes or hailstorms from forming here.

A little terminology -- a funnel cloud is the actual visible cloud, with a tornado taking place when that funnel cloud makes contact with the ground. Theoretically, it is even possible to have a tornado (which is simply the intense vortex of swirling winds) without the funnel cloud at all.

The moral of the story from the electric utility perspective is the same as for each of us as homeowners or residents -- be prepared for stormy weather, it can come at any time, in almost any form.