A camera system designed to monitor smoke and wildfires across California’s vast terrain captured footage Friday of what is believed to be the first tornado to impact the Lower 48 rivers in 2025.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The nation’s first tornado of 2025 did not strike in Alabama, Louisiana, or the country’s famous tornado alley across the plains, instead hitting Northern California on Friday.
A significant storm system expected to bring more than a foot of snow to parts of the Mississippi and Ohio valleys caused isolated thunderstorms to move from the southwest to the northeast across rural parts of the Golden State.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Sacramento detected enough rotation in one of their storm cells to issue a tornado warning, urging residents in affected areas to seek adequate shelter and stay away from windows. I advised him to do so.
It wasn’t until after the warning was issued that meteorologists saw the apparent twister on cameras designed to monitor areas for wildfires or smoke, rather than severe weather.
PG&E, the state’s largest electric utility, sponsors hundreds of wildfire cameras in northern and central California, which are sometimes used for wildlife monitoring, shooting stars, and now even tornadoes. is.
Despite the sightings, NWS meteorologists said they had not received any reports of damage, which was not entirely unexpected given that parts of Tehama and Shasta counties are rural.
PG&E expands wildfire detection network with dozens of cameras
According to statistics from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, California typically sees fewer than 12 tornadoes a year and typically falls on the weaker end of the Enhanced Fujita anemometer.
Tornadoes in the state can occur during any month, but they are most common in the spring and fall.
Since 1950, fewer than 500 tornadoes have been reported in the Golden State, resulting in injuries but no deaths.
The last tornado to affect the state was an EF-1 that flipped vehicles and damaged businesses in the Scotts Valley area of Santa Cruz County in December.
Several injuries were reported during the event, but all were considered non-life-threatening, even though there was no advance warning of severe storms.
Video recorded in Scotts Valley, California on Saturday shows the aftermath of an EF-1 tornado that tore through the region as an atmospheric river storm batters the West Coast. Video shows cars and other vehicles flipped over like toys as power lines and other debris litter the landscape.
WATCH: Tornado flips over car, damages businesses in Northern California
The tornado was among at least 1,735 tornadoes across the United States in 2024, according to SPC data.
This total is more than 40% higher than the typical number of tornadoes seen in any year across the United States.
The SPC noted that 2024 is expected to be the second busiest year on record, although preliminary counts for the previous year are still in progress.
The record for most tornadoes in a year was set in 2004, with 1,817 tornadoes.
The storm system that produced Friday’s tornadoes could cause additional supercell rotation along the Gulf Coast late this weekend and early next week. This is because the instability is expected to be sufficient to generate severe thunderstorms south of the winter disturbances affecting the northern tier. country.
