Small tornado rips barn apart in Hockinson
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HOCKINSON, Wash. – A powerful storm cell rolled through the Hockinson area on Thursday afternoon, creating a small tornado, according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado ripped the roof off of Don Gitner’s barn.
It “scattered debris from the barn all over our field,” Gitner said.
The NWS categorized the tornado as a F0, which is the weakest type of tornado.
Gitner's wife Irene witnessed the tornado, which only lasted about 10 or 15 seconds before moving east.
“My wife came to the kitchen and looked out the back window and it hit the barn,” Gitner said. He said nobody was hurt.
Irene said the sky turned black.
"There was a white twister settled on top of the roof" of the barn, she said.
Mike Gitner was at his home about a quarter mile away when he said it started to hail.
"I heard some metal banging, and I looked up this way, and all of the sudden the roof took off, and it was up in the air, 40, 50, 60 feet up in the air and it was spinning around" before it was thrown into a neighbor's yard about 700 feet away, he said.
The barn was the only reported damage from the tornado.
Meteorologist Dave Salesky said KATU’s VIPIR weather radar showed a strong cell in the area at the time of the tornado.
Kapooya Kapooya!
What a spit pit.
Where in the heck is Feral? I miss it. Probably hiding under a rock because of the weather?
Odd, I don't recall a trailer park near there........
@Jeepers Do you track trailer parks or something?  Odd hobby.
@Fake Pilot Tornados seem to track them.Â
@Fake Pilot @hokeywolf Trailer parks are God's snow globes. He likes to shake them up and watch the pretty pieces fall to the ground. :-)
@hokeywolf @Fake Pilot True, God hates mobile homes.
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Fruity, you messin wit me? I just love left jabs, they just sting a bit.
i'm starting a raffle for when the big one hits, just send me a date and time (with your buck) and any one of you could be RICH!!!!! beyond your wildest dreams.
@Bark Great plan and I'm "in".  I set up a PayPal account and we'll split the money when it's over, k?
@Sundowner @Bark Ok I'm in. Sundowner can I borrow a buck?
@Pvpbw @Bark @Fake Pilot  Just a second, I'll check.  Hey, Fake Pilot -- can I borrow two bucks?Â
Any tornadoes in this area always seem to land exclusively N of the Columbia River.
@whirledworld This one wasn't that long ago...
http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/Aumsville-Tornado-one-of-the-regions-most/zVeW30xH5EaNgw8Y4JKm-Q.cspx
@whirledworld I've noted that as well... I mean, there have been a few cold-core funnels in OR as well, but the Vancouver area seems to be the meteorlogical epicenter for them in the region. Kind of the 'vancouver triangle' as it were....Â
I have to wonder if it has to do with the geography of the area?Â
North of the Columbia, right after the bend (coming in from the Pacific), foothills of the Cascade/Olympic mountians. Geographically, the area is kind of in a little 'flat spot' north of the river. Cold, moist air comes in along the Columbia off the Pacific, follows the bend in the river and kinda gets split up, and forced to elevate as it hits the foothills and the breakoff of the Willamette and other branches. the turbulence creates the rotation....Â
Pretty fascinating stuff, that's for sure. Glad it missed her house.
@MarkKpic @whirledworld There was a shopping center that was hit a few years ago in vancouver, I only can recall of them in vancouver or near the coast.
That's scary, I had seen a drone high tailing it right through there right before.
This is laughable.  "rips barn apart"...I grew up in Nebraska and  saw the aftermaths of a tornado that completely level entire towns.  Looks to me this barn was already in a major state of disrepair.Â
@Common Sence and of course ,, the though/comment is,,, you grew up in Nebraska,,, you LIVE in Washington... nuff said.
That there is some Wizard of Oz s***. Â Run Aunty Em! Â Run!
I'm disappointed by the lack of reference to a the sound of a freight train in the article though.ÂDo you remember April 1972, I will never forget it. The think is in this region Tornados or Water Spots hit fast and destroy sometimes much some times very little. Be careful accussing someone of not knowing what they are seeing if you were not there. There are Areas in Hockenson that are not seen clearly from the major roads. I know that at Three Rivers Mall at12:40 PM  I walked from Macy's to my car no more then a block from the Coweman River; in that 2min it Rained Hailed Sleeted and snowed. Drove from there to East Longview by the police station and the sun was shining and there was no rain. It was cold and clear. We just never know what the weather will do in any area in SW Washington. When the Tornado went through Vancouver in 1972 there were nay sayers then too
@Cindy Dawn Kirchen-Bryant I remember that because the tornado barely touched down in the far end of NE Portland before it skipped over to WA. My mom was driving there and it went past her car and freaked her out.
welcome to spring in the pacific nw.
I'm actually surprised we don't get more extreme weather like this, but happy we don't!
Their last name is 'Ginter', not 'Gitner'. Anyone able to fix this?Â
@Kaisa Aho Not too sure anyone cares enough to bother.....I don't.
@Kaisa Aho Not on the katu.com staff. They'll just have to change their last name.
@HenryBowman @Kaisa Aho oh snap!
@HenryBowman @Kaisa Aho  And the mailbox, don't forget that.
@HenryBowman @Kaisa Aho lol
OK! Clark County will pass an ordinance against this, or the Washington State legislature will pass a law to not allow this to happen in the future!
@jpk Well, they could always tax someone for it too.... Call it a meteorological assessment.Â
@jpk But it's the only way....there must be a law
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Are you kidding!  Working on the road crew in this area we had high winds, snow, hail, rain, sun and more hail!  It was really extremely unsettled weather in this region throughout the whole day! Drove into Battle Ground after 4 PM in a hail storm so bad the road conditions were hazardous...got into Battle Ground and it was dry and sunny!  Welcome spring in S.W. Washington!
Barn ripped apart by old age and a normal spring storm.
We're just 3/4 mile from the site. We had 4 or 5 strong hail storms this afternoon but it was not excessively windy at any time. I think it sounds more like a cold core funnel cloud rather than a gust.
Better the barn than the house!
Are they sure it was a storm and not someone walking by to fast? And what's with the farmland graffiti?
@Lips  The barn must be near a road and highly visible for all passing high schoolers to proudly display their grad years as "Rules!" or "Rocks!"
I believe it...I'm in Woodland and we've had snow showers (at my elevation,) wind (but not like yesterday) and heavy hail with the storms heading right toward Battle Ground. Love this wild Spring weather!
The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
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@Master Bashum haha Actually that's not how you spell their name. It's 'Ginter'.Â
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@Master Bashum @Kaisa Aho Wow. Very sad.Â
@Kaisa Aho @Master Bashum  Not anymore.
@Master BashumÂ
When I write my last name first I am...Public John, King of the Porcelain Throne!
@Master Bashum Lol That was great!!!!  Still laughing.