Tornado, Merced
- When
- April 1, 3:45 PM PST to 3:50 PM PST
- Where
- Merced County, 12 mi S of Merced
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 5 yd
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Coordinates
- 37.130, -120.480
Tornado in California, April 1, 1996
The California Highway Patrol received a report that a motorist from a cellular phone that a tornado occurred southeast of the rural town of El Nido in Merced County. Pacific Gas and Electric did have to repair a pole in that vicinity.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.
The California Highway Patrol received a report that a motorist from a cellular phone that a tornado occurred southeast of the rural town of El Nido in Merced County. Pacific Gas and Electric did have to repair a pole in that vicinity. Residents reported that high wind and rain immediately preceded a period of calm and no rain. Whistling, humming, and then subsequent damage occurred to roofs, powerlines, and trees while residents hid in their houses.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Drought in Texas, April 1 to 30, 1996
- Damaging Wind in California, April 1, 1996
- Damaging Wind in California, April 1, 1996
- Drought in Texas, April 1 to 30, 1996
- Damaging Wind in California, April 1, 1996
- Drought in Texas, April 1 to 30, 1996
- Drought in Texas, April 1 to 30, 1996
- Drought in New Mexico, April 1 to 30, 1996
- Damaging Wind in California, April 1, 1996
- Damaging Wind in California, April 1, 1996
- Tornado in California, April 1, 1996
- Winter Weather in North Carolina, April 1 to 2, 1996
More
Every storm in California in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 1996Warnings in California, April 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5580779.