Tornado, Solano
- When
- January 11, 6:50 AM PST
- Where
- Solano County, Vacaville
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 0.1 yd
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 38.367, -121.983
Tornado in California, January 11, 2005
Brief touchdown on the edge of town. No damage noted.
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 STO wrote it up.
Brief touchdown on the edge of town. No damage noted.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 11, 4:00 AM PST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 11, 4:00 AM PST, 2 hours 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 400 AM PST TUE JAN 11 2005 .DISCUSSION... THE COLD UPPER LOW THAT HAS BEEN PARKED OFF THE COAST OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST SINCE LATE LAST WEEK HAS FINALLY BEGUN TO MOVE ONSHORE AND THE LOWS CENTER IS NOW CURRENTLY LOCATED SOMEWHERE SOUTHEAST OF CAPE MENDOCINO. THE LAST MAJOR FRONTAL BAND ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW TO AFFECT NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HAS NOW MOVED EAST OF RENO CURVING BACK TO THE NORTHWEST TOWARDS THE LOWS CENTER. A COUPLE OF SIGNIFICANT VORT MAXES ROTATING AROUND THE LOW WILL BRING CONTINUED SHOWER ACTIVITY TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TODAY. ONE OF THESE VORT MAXES NOW JUST MOVING ONTO THE COAST SOUTH OF THE LOW CENTER WITH ANOTHER DROPPING SOUTHWARD OFF THE NORTH COAST. MODELS NOT PICKING UP ON FINE DETAILS OF VORT CENTERS SO SATELLITE AND RADAR WILL BE BEST FORECAST TOOLS THIS MORNING. WITH MAIN FRONTAL BAND NOW PAST THE AREA...PRECIPITATION THIS MORNING WILL BE IN THE FORM OF SCATTERED SHOWERS. EVEN WEST SLOPES OF SIERRA LOOSE OROGRAPHICS BY ABOUT NOON TODAY. DUE TO EXPECTED DROP IN QPF TODAY AND GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS OVER THE SIERRA...HAVE DOWNGRADED WINTER STORM WARNING TO SNOW ADVISORY THERE. A FEW INCHES OF SNOW ARE STILL LIKELY IN POST FRONTAL SHOWERS SO LEFT UP SNOW ADVISORY OVER MOUNTAINS ELSEWHERE UNTIL MID DAY. COLDEST AIR WILL MOVE THROUGH NORCAL AS LOW CENTER MAKES ITS WAY ACROSS NORTH STATE LATER THIS MORNING. COULD SEE SNOW LEVELS BELOW 2500 FEET FOR A SHORT TIME THIS MORNING SO LEFT UP SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS OF THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY. UPPER LEVEL FLOW BECOMES NORTHERLY BY 00Z THIS AFTERNOON SO SHOULD SEE FAIRLY ABRUPT END TO WET PERIOD THAT EXCEPT FOR ABOUT ONE DRY DAY HAS LASTED OVER TWO WEEKS. COOL ADVECTION NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS SHOULD KEEP MAX TEMPERATURES FROM CLIMBING MUCH OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS BUT CLEARER SKIES SHOULD ALLOW VALLEY MAX TEMPS TO CLIMB A BIT. SHOULD SEE SOME WARMING BY FRIDAY AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGE CENTERS OVER WEST COAST. SOME OF THE EXTENDED RANGE PROGS ARE HINTING AT BREAK THROUGH UNDER THE EASTERN PACIFIC BLOCK BY NEXT WEEKEND. EURO AND UKMET MODELS MUCH WEAKER WITH THIS FEATURE SO HAVE CONTINUED TO LEAVE OUT MENTION OF ANY PRECIP IN EXTENDED FORECAST. GFS DROPS LOW INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ON DAY SEVEN BUT OTHER MODELS SHOW NO SIGN OF THIS DEVELOPMENT. SMITH && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...SNOW ADVISORY THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. ...SNOW ADVISORY THROUGH NOON TODAY FOR THE INTERIOR COASTAL RANGE NORTH OF CLEAR LAKE...THE MOUNTAINS OF SHASTA COUNTY...WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY...AND LASSEN PARK AREA AND FOR THE BURNEY BASIN AND EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY. ...SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 2500 FEET THROUGH NOON TODAY FOR THE EAST FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTH SACRAMENTO VALLEY. &&
Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 10, 7:00 AM PST, 23 hours 50 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 700 AM PST MON JAN 10 2005 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-111500- SHASTA LAKE AREA/NORTHERN SHASTA COUNTY- BURNEY BASIN/EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY-NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA-NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- MOUNTAINS SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA TO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTIES- CLEAR LAKE/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY-MOTHERLODE- EAST FOOTHILLS/NORTH SACRAMENTO VALLEY- WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY/LASSEN PARK-WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA- 700 AM PST MON JAN 10 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. A VIGOROUS WINTER STORM WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON. * WINTER STORM WARNING.......SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * * SNOW ADVISORY..............SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE WINTER STORM WILL MOVE OFF TO THE EAST BY TUESDAY EVENING. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION BY WEDNESDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED FROM WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. * WINTER STORM WARNING.......SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * * SNOW ADVISORY..............SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT (LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/STO
The radar
The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:48 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
- Heavy Rain in California, January 11, 2005
- Winter Weather in Kansas, January 11, 2005
- Flooding in Nevada, January 11 to 12, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 11, 2005
- Flood in California, January 11 to 12, 2005
- Flooding in Ohio, January 11 to 14, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 11, 2005
- Flooding in Ohio, January 11 to 12, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 11, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 11, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 11, 2005
- Debris Flow in Colorado, January 11, 2005
More
Every storm in California in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 2005Warnings in California, January 2005
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: 5478530.