EF1 Tornado — Santa Cruz, California

2024-12-14 · near Scotts Vly, Santa Cruz, California

Event narrative

A Special Weather Statement was issued at 1:07 PM, followed by a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at 1:25 PM, for a strong thunderstorm that impacted western Santa Cruz County. Following the impact, social media videos and reports indicated that a tornado briefly touched down in the Scotts Valley region. A team from the National Weather Service San Francisco Bay Area conducted a storm survey in Scotts Valley. The team identified a swath of tornadic damage that began near the intersection of Mount Hermon Rd and Lockewood Ln and continued southeast along Mount Hermon Rd until just short of Kings Village Rd. A wide range of damage was observed including: downed trees, downed power poles, trees stripped of branches, numerous overturned vehicles, and damaged street signs. Based on these damage indicators the survey team assessed a maximum wind speed of 90 mph, which is a weak EF1 tornado. Five people, including a firefighter, were injured by the tornado, and six cars were turned over including a pickup truck from Cal Fire.

Wider weather episode

An intense storm system came through the Bay Area and Central Coast through the night of Friday December 13 into Saturday December 14 as a cold front combined with a developing low pressure system off the California coast, causing numerous weather impacts throughout the region. Among the notable impacts from the system, a confirmed EF1 tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, the first recorded tornado warning in San Francisco received significant public and media attention, strong gusts associated with a squall line caused multiple weather impacts across the region, and most of the city of Monterey and the surrounding cities of Seaside and Marina lost power on Saturday morning and did not get it back until the following Sunday afternoon and evening.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0483, -122.0343)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220527. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.