Saturday’s Squall Not Just Windstorm

Call Auntie Em and tell her it’s official.

The squall that toppled trees in Eastern Washington on Saturday wasn’t your typical windstorm. In places, it was a tornado, albeit a mild one.

Meteorologist John Livingston said the twister touched down in southeastern Stevens County, then skipped across Spokane County south of Deer Park, crossing both U.S. Highway 395 and 2, a distance of at least 10 miles.

“It was not on the ground continuously,” said Livingston. “It would touch the ground and pull up, touch the ground and pull up,” leaving trees snapped and toppled in its places, followed by areas that were relatively unharmed.

Based on the damage, Livingston said, the tornado probably rated a 1 on a scale of 0-6. Such twisters normally have winds of 73 mph to 112 mph.

By comparison, the tornado that killed 28 people in Texas last week was a 5, meaning it reached more than 260 mph. The last confirmed tornado in Eastern Washington, which hit Seven Bays Marina on Lake Roosevelt in July 1994, rated a 0.

By definition, tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that touch ground. In the Northern Hemisphere, they most often turn counterclockwise.

The conditions that cause tornadoes - severe thunderstorms, updrafts and colliding cold and warm air currents - are relatively rare in the Northwest, said meteorologist Todd Carter. Mountains protect the region from such conditions, while tornado-prone areas like Texas have no such weather barriers.

Livingston said National Weather Service officials certified the tornado after visiting areas where it touched down and interviewing people who saw the funnel cloud. The scientists had a hard time distinguishing trees snapped by the storm and those that broke during November’s ice storm, he said.

In other areas, the storm didn’t have circular motion that marks a tornado. Still, Livingston said, there was hail the size of jawbreakers in places, and 60 mph gusts throughout the region.

The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to at least thousands of Washington Water Power Co. customers in Washington and Idaho.

The good news for homeowners: While most insurance policies don’t cover damage caused by earthquakes or floods, tornadoes and other wind storms “are virtually always a covered peril,” state Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Rating tornadoes’ strength