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EF0 tornado in Placer County, California

Tornado January 9, 2017 · Placer County, California

EF0
Rating
0.2 mi
Path length
20 yd
Path width
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 brief tornado touchdown was photographed out in a grassy field in Lincoln, near Thunder Valley Casino, causing no damage.

The wider storm

Two strong storms brought a range of significant weather impacts to northern interior California. The first storm was very wet and warm, the second not quite as wet but cooler with lower snow levels. Both storms brought strong, damaging winds. The heavy rain brought widespread flooding of small streams and rivers, with some flooding of main stem rivers, mountain snow many feet deep, and numerous trees down on roads, vehicles, and homes. Many roads, including major highways such as Interstate 80, were shut down due to mudslides, heavy snow, flooding, washouts or avalanche suppression. EF0 tornadoes were reported at Lincoln and Natomas. Other significant impacts include numerous accidents due to slippery roads, evacuations and rescues due to flooding.

Began near Lincoln (38.8491, -121.3272).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 674297. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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