Name: Tornado in California, April 7, 2001
Start: 2001-04-07T19:58
End: 2001-04-07T20:03
Location: California

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $150,000
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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 2:20 PM PST, 5 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 2:20 PM PST, 5 hours 38 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
320 PM PDT SAT APR 7 2001

A VORTICITY CENTER MOVING THROUGH THE STRONG COLD POOL ALOFT /IN
WAKE OF THIS MORNING/S COLD FRONT/ HAS TRIGGERED WIDESPREAD
SHALLOW CONVECTION ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY AND THE FOOTHILLS...AND EVEN SOME THUNDERSNOW OVER THE KERN
COUNTY DESERTS. SEVERAL REPORTS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS AND PEA-SIZE HAIL.
CONVECTION WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING...THEN BEGIN TO DIE OFF
AFTER SUNSET.

SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MOUNTAINS WILL TAPER OFF OVERNIGHT. PER
COORDINATION WITH WFO/S SACRAMENTO AND RENO WILL ALLOW SNOW ADVISORY
FOR THE FOOTHILLS TO EXPIRE...AND DOWNGRADE THE WINTER STORM WARNING
FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA ABOVE 4000 FEET TO A SNOW ADVISORY
UNTIL 06Z. WILL ALSO LET THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE KERN
COUNTY MOUNTAINS EXPIRE...BUT ISSUE A WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 06Z. IN
THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS...SOME GUSTS TO 40-50 MPH CONTINUE...SO WIND
ADVISORY THERE ON TRACK.

SOME INSTABILITITY SHOWERS WILL REDEVELOP OVER THE REGION SUNDAY...
BUT DO NOT EXPECT REDEVELOPMENT OF CONVECTION. THE 12Z MODELS DROP
ANOTHER VORTICITY CENTER...ABOUT +30...AROUND THE BASE OF THE TROUGH
AND INTO THE SOUTHLAND MONDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL ENHANCE THE
INSTABILITY OVER THE REGION...SO WILL GO WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS
OVER THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND KERN DESERTS...WITH SHOWERSA LIKELY
OVER THE MOUNTAINS.

FOR THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD...ANOTHER SHORT-WAVE DROPS INTO THE
TROUGH MONDAY NIGHT AND ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TUESDAY MORNING.
WILL KEEP MENTION OF TUESDAY MORNING SHOWERS IN THE EXTENDED
FORECAST...THEN DECREASING CLOUDS AND BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY AND
CONTINUED UNSEASONABLY COOL FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED
FORECAST PERIOD.

POPS FAT 5204 BFL 4204 YNP 7536. SANGER

.HNX...SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL 1100 PM FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA
       ABOVE 4000 FEET FROM YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK TO THE KERN
       COUNTY LINE.
    ...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 1100 PM FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS.
    ...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 1100 PM FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS.
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 7, 5:09 PM PST, 2 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
0509 PM PST SAT APR 7 2001

TIME (PST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0551 AM    FISH CAMP                 CA   HEAVY SNOW
04/07/01   MARIPOSA                       12 INCHES SNOW

0653 AM    GREENHORN SUMMIT          CA   HEAVY SNOW
04/07/01   KERN                           11.5 INCHES SNOW

0700 AM    LODGEPOLE                 CA   HEAVY SNOW
04/07/01   TULARE                         23 INCHES SNOW

0400 PM    HUME LAKE                 CA   HEAVY SNOW
04/07/01   FRESNO                         19.75 INCHES SNOW

0421 PM    5 MILES SE OF MERCED      CA   THUNDERSTORM
04/07/01   MERCED                         0.75 INCH HAIL

SANGER/JSN

The radar

The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:56 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Fresno

When: April 7, 7:58 PM PST to 8:03 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, Clovis
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.3 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Property damage: $150,000
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 36.817, -119.700

Post storm analysis and evaluation yielded a 0.3 mile swath for a small F0 tornado through an older, residential neighborhood of Clovis, CA, 2 miles northeast of the Fresno Air Terminal. No injuries were reported with damage essentially limited to uprooted trees, roof, small structure, and fence damage. Confirmation was determined by damage evidence and eyewitness reports. Interesting Note: One of the uprooted trees was a replacement from its predecessor damaged from the 1980 Fresno Air Terminal tornado!

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

More

Every storm in California in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history The tornado archive for California, 2001 Warnings in California, April 2001

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: 5240955.