Waterspout, Mendocino
- When
- January 25, 7:20 AM PST to 10:00 AM PST
- Where
- Mendocino County, 100 mi W of Pt Arena
- Reported by
- AIRPLANE PILOT
- Coordinates
- 39.434, -123.432 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Waterspout in California, January 25, 2001
Doppler radar indicated numerous waterspouts along an intense cold front from Pt. St.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Doppler radar indicated numerous waterspouts along an intense cold front from Pt. St. George to Pt. Arena. The pilot of a WP-3 Orion weather research aircraft confirmed waterspouts by observing one west of Point Arena while conducting a flight in support of the PacJet project.
The radar
The Eureka (Bunker Hill) radar (KBHX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:22 UTC.
Event by event
1 waterspout. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Waterspout
- A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Dense Fog in Maine, January 25, 2001
- High Wind and Lightning Strike in California, January 25, 2001
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Alaska, January 25 to 26, 2001
- Winter Storm in California, January 25 to 26, 2001
- Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, January 25 to 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in North Carolina, January 25, 2001
- Heavy Snow in California, January 25 to 26, 2001
- Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in California, January 25 to 26, 2001
- High Wind in California, January 25, 2001
- High Wind in South Dakota, January 25 to 26, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, January 25, 2001
- High Wind in South Dakota, January 25, 2001
More
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5228268.