Tornadoes · United States · California · 2012
EF0 tornado, Aberdeen to Independence, California, November 30, 2012
From Aberdeen to Independence, this EF0 tornado ran 1.6 miles across Inyo County on November 30, 2012, touching down at 12:45 PM PST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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.
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
- EF0
- Date
- November 30, 2012
- Touchdown
- 12:45 PM PST (20:45 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:55 PM PST (20:55 UTC)
- On the ground
- 10 minutes
- Path length
- 1.6 miles (2.6 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Inyo County
- Touchdown point
- 36.948, -118.229
- Lift-off point
- 36.945, -118.200
- Record number
- 1211301445-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A Pacific storm system brought locally high winds to the Mojave Desert.
The California Highway Patrol observed and photographed a landspout near Highway 395 north of Independence. No damage was reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | VEF |
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 surface observations
Bishop Airport (BIH), 49 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:56 UTC | 63 | 27 | 160° 19 kt | 26 | 1010.8 | |
| 19:56 UTC | 62 | 25 | 150° 12 kt | 23 | 1011.9 | |
| 20:56 UTC | 61 | 26 | 150° 15 kt | 25 | 1011.9 | |
| 21:56 UTC | 56 | 35 | 160° 13 kt | 20 | 1011.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:45 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 58 | Sierra Rotors 14 | Inyo, CA | SIERRA ROTORS SITE NUMBER 14 MEASURED A PEAK WIND GUST OF 58 MPH FROM THE WEST-SOUTHWEST AT AN ELEVATION OF 4044 FEET. |
| 20:45 UTC | TORNADO | 10 N Independence | Inyo, CA | A LANDSPOUT DEVELOPED ALONG HIGHWAY 395 ABOUT 10 MILES NORTH OF INDEPENDENCE. CONFIRMED BY A PHOTOGRAPH FROM CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are
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.