Tornadoes · United States · California · 2005

F0 tornado, Durham, California, April 8, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Butte County on April 8, 2005, touching down at 4:05 PM PDT. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
April 8, 2005
Touchdown
4:05 PM PDT (23:05 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
0 yards (0 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Butte County
Touchdown point
39.620, -121.800
Lift-off point
39.630, -121.800
Record number
427

What the Weather Service recorded

Minor damage to a residence and nearby trees.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

24 minutes of warning. NWS STO issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:41 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:18 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:15 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningSTO
20:45 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningSTO
21:17 UTC21:46 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSTO
22:25 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSTO
22:41 UTC23:18 UTCTornado WarningSTO

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 22:26 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, 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 tornado touched down at Apr 8, 3:00 PM PDT, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 8, 3:00 PM PDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
300 PM PDT THU APR 8 2005

.DISCUSSION... QUITE OF BIT OF DEEP & MOIST CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY
OCCURRING ACROSS THE COUNTY WARNING AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY THIS
AFTERNOON.  MULTIPLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS...WITH EVEN 3
TORNADO WARNINGS ISSUED ALREADY. STEEP PRESSURE GRADIENTS WHICH
WERE RESULTING IN ADVISORY CRITERIA SOUTH GUSTS ACROSS NORTHERN
SACRAMENTO VALLEY HAS RELAXED ENOUGH TO ALLOW IT TO EXPIRE. THE
SNOWFALL RATES ARE DECREASING AS THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH ... SO
SNOW ADVISORY THAT WAS ISSUED FOR OF OUR ALL MOUNTAINS WILL NOT
LIKELY BE EXTENDED BEYOND 6 PM.  FOR THIS REASON, ADVICE WAS TO
NOT INCLUDE THE HEADLINE FOR THOSE ZONES...AS IT WILL LIKELY BE
EXPIRED BY THE TIME THE ZONES ARE VALID.  THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY
WILL WIND UP ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS THIS EVENING...LEAVING
BEHIND MAINLY SCATTERED SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL, WHICH WAS REPORTED
TO BE QUITE LOW EARLIER, IS STARTING TO RISE...BUT STILL FAIRLY
LOW FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE IS BUILDING
ACROSS THE EASTERN PACIFIC IN THE WAKE OF THIS SYSTEM, SO OTHER
THAN SOME ISOLATED MORNING SHOWERS, THE WEEKEND LOOKS TO BE DRY
AND WARMER.  THE NEXT SYSTEM MAY BRUSH OUR NORTHERN BORDERS FOR
LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY, BUT THE FIRST REAL CHANCE FOR
ADDITIONAL PRECIPITATION WONT BE UNTIL TUESDAY. THAT WILL DROP
TOWARD THE GREAT BASIN, SO THE REST OF NEXT WEEK LOOKS DRY. RCH

&&

.STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SNOW ADVISORY TO 6PM SHASTA
                      COUNTY AND NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY MOUNTAINS
                    ...LASSEN AREA INCLUDING BURNEY BASIN...AND
                      WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA.

&&
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 8, 7:00 AM PDT, 9 hours 5 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
7 AM PDT FRI APR 8 2005

CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-081400-
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-
7 AM PDT FRI APR 8 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP THROUGH THIS EVENING OVER A
LARGE PORTION OF THE INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.  THE STRONGEST
THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE STRONG WINDS...HEAVY RAINS AND
HAIL. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS ALSO SUPPORT THE SLIGHT CHANCE THAT ONE
OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE A FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO.

PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW MAY PRODUCE WILL PRODUCE SOME LOCALLY
HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.  UP TO 7 INCHES OF SNOW MAY FALL OVER
THE NORTHERN INTERIOR COASTAL RANGE AND THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN
SHASTA COUNTY.

REFER TO THE ZONE FORECAST (FPUS56 KSTO - ZFPSTO) FOR MORE
INFORMATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.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

LAM

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 8, 1:49 PM PDT, 2 hours 16 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
149 PM PDT FRI APR 08 2005

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0140 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     3 W HAMILTON CITY       39.74N 122.07W
04/08/2005                   GLENN              CA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            GLENN COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTS FUNNEL CLOUD ALONG HIGHWAY
            32 3 MILES WEST OF HAMILTON CITY.

&&

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Oakland, CA (KOAK), 12:00Z

11.1 hours before the tornado, 214 km from the path. April 8, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 2005-04-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 18 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 886 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 2005-04-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 71 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
886 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Oakland, CA (KOAK), 00:00Z

0.9 hours after it, 214 km from the path. April 9, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Oakland, CA at 00:00Z on 2005-04-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 88 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 1063 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Oakland, CA at 00:00Z on 2005-04-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 53 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
88 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
556 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1063 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 20 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 8, 2005

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 82:12 PM PDTF0San Joaquin, CA1.50$10,000
April 83:55 PM PDTF0Sacramento, CA0.10
April 84:22 PM PDTF0Sacramento, CA0.10$30,000
April 86:20 PM PDTF0Merced, CA1.250$30,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.