Tornado Damage in Washington State seldom makes national headlines but, on average, it is incurred every year. Normally damage is minimal but there have been several deaths and major devastation from a few tornadoes in recent decades.
Washington’s deadliest outbreak struck on April 5, 1972 when an F3 spawned over Vancouver and tracked over a grade school, a bowling alley and a grocery store. West of Spokane, an additional F3 touched down. Another twister, an F2, descended onto nearby Stevens County and yet another F2 spawned over Grant County. Overall, six deaths, three hundred injuries and $50 million in damages were reported
On May 31st, 1997, one storm system birthed six tornadoes over Washington, crushing the prior record of four from 1989 and 1972. Stevens and Spokane counties in northeast Washington saw 4 F1s. Vancouver and Tacoma both saw F0s. Additionally, a bit to the east in western Idaho, an F1 struck Athol and an F0 was spotted near Lewiston. The system brought wind gusts near 80 mph, large hail, heavy rains and flash flooding. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. 1997 went on to produce a new State record of fourteen tornadoes.
An F1 with maximum winds of 110 mph touched ground near Puyallup on Sep. 30, 2013. The storm damaged several buildings and tipped a train off of its tracks. The tornado’s swath ended in the town of Frederickson, 45 miles south of Seattle, where it damaged a Boeing facility.
Several months ago, on Oct. 11, 2014, the first tornado warning since Dec. 12, 1969 was reported for the greater Seattle Metro area. Just offshore, west of Anderson Island, a waterspout was spotted, which lasted two minutes and fell apart before it could beach.
Longview in southwest Washington experienced an F1 that trekked 1.3 miles and peaked at 110 mph on Oct, 23, 2014. Roofs were torn off of an assisted living facility and a building of a towing company. A section of roofing was tossed through the window of an appliance store, where it knocked a row of refrigerators backwards about a foot.The store’s security door was also sucked off of its hinges and tossed afar. Nearby, the storm system threw a man’s trampoline out of his yard and down the road three quarters of his block.
The most recent tornadic event happened on the 18th of January, when an F1 tornadowas spotted in western Washington near Gig Harbor on the southeastern Kitsap Peninsula. Like most of the State’s twisters, it wasn’t strong enough to deliver notable damage. Since almost all of them manifest between March and June or August and November, this one was a surprise to many Washingtonians.
There are on average less than ten severe thunderstorms per year in western Washington and closer to twenty on the eastern side of the State. This mitigates the occurrence of tornadoes, which on average appear only once annually. The cold waters of the Pacific limit evaporation, convection and high temperatures on the shore and often many miles inland due to persistent sea breezes. The smooth surface of and lack of wind restriction over the Ocean and the connecting inland waterways permit the much more frequent formations of waterspouts. The transition onto land to officially become a tornado without fizzling is the stumbling block that makes Washington’s so uncommon. For more information about Washington State’s tornadoes here is a convenient record of events since 1950. Image below is from NOAA 
Article written by: Meteorologist Geoff Linsley