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EF0 tornado in Butte County, California

Tornado March 29, 2014 · Butte County, California

EF0

Rating

0.0 mi

Path length

10 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 10 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

At approximately 7:40pm, a trained spotter saw a funnel cloud associated with a supercell near Nord, CA while travelling on Highway 99 just east of Cana Highway. He witnessed the funnel cloud briefly touch down to the ground and then lift again. NWS storm survey found an uprooted tree in an orchard where the touchdown occurred, and swirl marks in the ground surrounding the tree. No injuries were reported.

The wider storm

A Pacific front moved through interior Northern California March 28-30th which brought rain and heavy snow to the area. Increased shear and CAPE developed in the Sacramento Valley on the 29th. A supercell strengthened in the Central Sacramento Valley that afternoon that eventually produced an EF0 tornado near Nord, CA that evening.

Began near Anita (39.8435, -121.9744).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 508194. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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