A thunderstorm over eastern Sacramento valley resulted in a gust front pushing out in front of the storm. This gust front resulted in 2 reported gustnado's in a rural area.
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The episode as NWS STO wrote it up.
A thunderstorm over eastern Sacramento valley resulted in a gust front pushing out in front of the storm. This gust front resulted in 2 reported gustnado's in a rural area. No damage was reported, but wind speeds were estimated near 50 mph.
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 Apr 24, 1:53 PM PST, 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 253 PM PDT SUN APR 24 2016 .Synopsis... Unsettled and cool weather Sunday and Monday, then again Tuesday night and Wednesday. && .Discussion... A trough is deepening over the region today and producing showers over the mountains with a slight chance of an isolated shower for the valley into the early evening hours. The models show very good instability this afternoon and evening but there is not much available moisture to trigger anything in the valley. The limited potential for thunderstorms over the mountains still looks good for some isolated activity. The center of the trough will be over Central Nevada on Monday and may bring some wrap around moisture and showers to the Sierra Nevada. Snow levels look to be around 7000 feet during the day. Most other areas should remain dry, cool with breezy to locally windy northerly winds for the valley. The strongest winds look like they should be over the west side of the valley. Tuesday will be dry and warmer as a ridge builds over the area with lighter northerly flow. The dry weather looks short lived as another system moves into the region Tuesday night and Wednesday. Wednesday's system should bring a little bit more precipitation to the region with the best chances continuing over the foothills and mountains. Have left out any mention of thunderstorms for now but at this point perhaps a low probability for some on Wednesday looks possible. Several inches of snow also looks possible near pass levels. .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday) Upper low continues to dig southward into SoCal Thursday maintaining a slight chance of wrap around showers over the eastern foothills and mountains...from near Lassen Park southward. Drier with warming temperatures and locally breezy North to East wind Friday into the weekend as upper ridging builds over NorCal. && .AVIATION... Upr trof apchs Intr NorCal tda and movs thru tngt. Genly VFR conds nxt 24 hrs exc poss lcl MVFR/IFR in shwrs ovr fthls/mtns. Sn lvls lwrg to 035-045 by Mon mrng. Areas of Nly sfc wnd gsts up to 30 kts in Cntrl Vly tngt into Mon mrng with llws. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. &&
The Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:02 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Two gustnados were sightednear the Interstate 5 exit at Maxwell. One crossed I-5 and quickly dispersed. The second one formed breifly off I 5 and was videotaped by a passing vehicle. A thunderstorm was west of the area, but there was no connection between the gustnado to the storm. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2016
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: 633002.