Two Twisters Touch Down Near Pocatello

Two tornadoes that touched down near the city on Tuesday apparently did little damage, authorities say.

Jack Messick with the National Weather Service in Pocatello said one tornado touched down “very close” to the airport around 1 p.m. Another hit Fort Hall, about four miles away, overturning a tractor-trailer and a motor home. There were no reports of injuries, he said.

The weather service will investigate the damage today and determine how severe the tornadoes were, Messick said.

“Commonly with thunderstorms we get funnel clouds,” he said.

Messick said tornadoes in Idaho are “rare,” adding that the last time one had touched down was on May 31, 1997, at a drive-in movie theater in Pocatello.

That same day in 1997, a tornado about as severe as Tuesday’s Fort Hall twister lifted roofs off sheds and stripped away metal siding in the Jefferson County town of Terreton, Messick said.