Tornado, Mendocino
- When
- December 5, 3:57 PM PST to 4:00 PM PST
- Where
- Mendocino County, Ft Bragg to 1 mi S of Ft Bragg
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1.7 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 39.420, -123.820
Tornado in California, December 5, 1998
Tornado touched down near the mouth of the Noyo River damaging a mobile home and uprooting trees. The tornado crossed Highway 1 and damaged the roof of a motel and a courthouse.
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
- None recorded
- 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 EKA wrote it up.
Tornado touched down near the mouth of the Noyo River damaging a mobile home and uprooting trees. The tornado crossed Highway 1 and damaged the roof of a motel and a courthouse. It uprooted additional trees at the end of its path across the street from a hospital emergency room.
The radar
The Eureka (Bunker Hill) radar (KBHX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:49 UTC.
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
- Tornadoes and High Wind in California, December 5 to 16, 1998
- Winter Storm in California, December 5 to 6, 1998
- Dense Fog in Florida, December 5, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, December 5 to 6, 1998
- Heavy Snow in California, December 5, 1998
- High Wind in Alaska, December 5 to 7, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Washington, December 5, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Oregon, December 5 to 6, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Washington, December 5 to 6, 1998
- Heat in Oklahoma, December 5, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, December 5, 1998
- Flood in U.S. Virgin Islands, December 5, 1998
More
Every storm in California in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 1998Warnings in California, December 1998
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: 5673536.