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EF0 tornado in San Benito County, California

Tornado January 6, 2016 · San Benito County, California

EF0
Rating
1.3 mi
Whole path
20 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through San Benito County → San Benito County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 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

A weak (EF-0) tornado touched down in a field between Highway 156 and Orchard Road approximately 7 miles north of Hollister, CA in San Benito County. The tornado last just a minute or two and caused spotty damage along a 3/4-mile length path that was 10-20 yards in width. A large shed sustained significant damage with its roof blown off. The roof was also blown off a barn and there was significant damage to a fence on the same property.

The wider storm

A strong Pacific storm swept through the San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey Bay Area on Wednesday, January 6. This storm produced heavy rain, minor flooding, damaging winds, a funnel cloud, and one confirmed tornado.

Began near Dunneville Corners (36.9381, -121.3815).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 608302. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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