Authorities confirm EF0 tornado touched down in Snohomish County



MONROE, Wash. -- The damage total is still being calculated in Snohomish County after a tornado whipped through a dealership of recreational vehicles. The tornado at 10:32 a.m. touched down for only a second moved dozens of RVs on Thursday, flipping several on their side and tossing one on top of a nearby car, crushing it.

It all happened at Speedway Chevrolet at 16957 West Main Street in Monroe in the southwest corner of the Snohomish County city. No one was injured or killed in this brief tornado.

A two-person investigative team from the National Weather Service office in Seattle confirmed that an EF-0 tornado touched down. According to NOAA, EF-0 are among the weakest tornadoes and tend to cause light damage with wind speeds 65-85 mph.



The National Weather Service says the damage in Monroe was "very isolated" and they are not expecting widespread wind impacts Thursday.

Q13 Meteorologist Rebecca Stevenson said doppler radar showed the development of a cell of heavy rain in the midst of an active Puget Sound convergence zone in Snohomish County.

Tornadoes are created by shear in the atmosphere, that is where air current above the ground is going in a different direction than the winds at the surface.

Tornadoes are rare in Washington state.

The latest data available online show that Washington ranks 43rd for frequency of tornadoes. We average statewide about three per year and most of them happen east of the Cascades.