Tornado, Butte
- When
- January 8, 4:45 PM PST
- Where
- Butte County, 5 mi S of Oroville
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 0.1 yd
- Property damage
- $20,000
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 39.450, -121.567
Tornado in California, January 8, 2005
Brief touchdown reported south of Oroville damaging two structures.
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
- $20,000
- 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 STO wrote it up.
Brief touchdown reported south of Oroville damaging two structures.
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 8, 4:00 PM PST, 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 8, 4:00 PM PST, 45 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
400 PM PST SAT JAN 08 2005
.DISCUSSION...
DEEP/COLD CLOSED UPPER LOW REMAINS NEARLY STATIONARY OFF THE COAST
OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS SYSTEM CONTINUES TO PUMP MOISTURE
INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THE PATTERN WILL REMAIN RELATIVELY
UNCHANGED THROUGH SUNDAY...WITH THE FORECAST AREA UNDER A REGIME
WITH NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND EVEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WHILE THE JUICIER
AIRMASS REMAINS WELL TO THE SOUTH. FAVORABLE UPSLOPE FLOW AND STEEP
LAPSE RATES...ALONG WITH SOME DYNAMIC FORCING...WILL CONTINUE TO
GENERATE HEAVY SNOW OVER THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA
THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WHILE ELSEWHERE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO
BECOME MORE SCATTERED BY MIDDAY SUNDAY.
WARM ADVECTION HAS TAKEN HOLD WITH SOUTH WINDS ALL THE WAY UP TO THE
NORTH END OF THE FORECAST AREA. THIS HAS ALLOWED THE SNOW LEVELS TO
RISE A BIT TODAY...SO HAVE CANCELLED THE WINTER STORM WARNING FOR
THE MOTHERLODE AS PRECIPITATION WILL BE MAINLY RAIN SHOWERS TONIGHT.
PATTERN BEGINS TO EVOLVE MONDAY AS THE UPPER LOW OPENS UP AND SWEEPS
ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AS IT BEGINS TO HEAD EAST. THIS WILL
BRING ANOTHER SHOT OF PRECIPITATION TO THE REGION THROUGH MONDAY
NIGHT...BUT IS EXPECTED TO BE NOT AS LONG IN DURATION. AFTER THAT...
DRIER NORTHWEST FLOW SHOULD ALLOW FOR SEVERAL RELATIVELY DRY DAYS
ACROSS THE REGION.
&&
.STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH
MONDAY NIGHT FOR THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA.
WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT FOR THE INTERIOR COAST RANGE NORTH
OF CLEAR LAKE...THE MOUNTAINS OF SHASTA COUNTY...BURNEY
BASIN...AND WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY AND THE LASSEN PARK AREA.
WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT FOR THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS OF THE
NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY.
SNOW ADVISORY SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT FOR THE INTERIOR
COAST RANGE NORTH OF CLEAR LAKE...THE MOUNTAINS OF SHASTA
COUNTY...BURNEY BASIN...AND WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY AND THE
LASSEN PARK AREA.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL
SACRAMENTO VALLEY.
&&Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 8, 7:00 AM PST, 9 hours 45 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 700 AM PST SAT JAN 8 2005 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-091500- 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 SAT JAN 8 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. A VIGOROUS WINTER STORM WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND. * WINTER STORM WARNING.......SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * * WIND ADVISORY..............SEE WWUS76 KSTO - NPWSTO FOR DETAILS * .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A STATIONARY LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST WILL ROTATE A COLDER STORM OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL FINALLY MOVE THROUGH NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TUESDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE REGION. * WINTER STORM WARNING.......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 Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:47 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
- Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, January 8 to 12, 2005
- Heavy Rain in California, January 8, 2005
- Storm Surge in California, January 8 to 11, 2005
- Winter Storm in Massachusetts, January 8, 2005
- Winter Storm in Connecticut, January 8, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 8, 2005
- Damaging Wind in Hawaii, January 8, 2005
- Storm Surge and High Surf in California, January 8 to 9, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 8, 2005
- Flood in Kentucky, January 8 to 10, 2005
- Flash Flood in California, January 8, 2005
- Ice Storm in Pennsylvania, January 8, 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: 5478529.