Tornadoes · United States · California · 2012

EF1 tornado, Yuba City South, California, October 22, 2012

This EF1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Sutter County on October 22, 2012, touching down at 3:03 PM PDT 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. 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.

  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
EF1
Date
October 22, 2012
Touchdown
3:03 PM PDT (22:03 UTC)
Lifted
3:05 PM PDT (22:05 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sutter County
Touchdown point
39.062, -121.630
Lift-off point
39.091, -121.623
Record number
1210221603-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong low pressure system moved through northern California, bringing several feet of snow to the mountains, significant rainfall to the valley and foothills, and tornadic supercells in the valley.

The Yuba City Tornado: Supercells developed behind the cold front along a north-south boundary in the middle of the Central Valley, where both instability and shear were large. The Sutter County Sheriff and Fire Department reported a tornado at approximately 2pm (PST), which was the first reported tornado of the day. The NWS storm survey team determined a touchdown at Mallard Lake Golf Center along Highway 99 just south of Yuba City. The tornado traveled northeast toward Oswald and Barry Roads and north along Railroad Ave. Estimated wind speeds were up to 100mph. The tornado snapped several trees at the golf course, damaged 30-40 small walnut and peach trees in a nearby orchard, lifted shingles on multiple homes, damaged a car port, blew down several fences, damaged several businesses, and lifted an outbuilding off its foundation and turned it upside down.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:14 UTC22:45 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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.

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

10.1 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. October 22, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 2012-10-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 4 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 650 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2012-10-22The 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 276 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 69 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
650 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
276 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
345 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Oakland, CA (KOAK), 00:00Z

1.9 hours after it, 158 km from the path. October 23, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Oakland, CA at 00:00Z on 2012-10-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 123 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 1132 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2012-10-23The 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 93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 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
123 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
442 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1132 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
9.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:03 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:30 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.6Grass ValleyNevada, CAHEAVY RAIN DURATION 24 HOURS
22:00 UTCTORNADO 13 S South Yuba CitySutter, CATHE EF1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT THE MALLARD LAKE GOLF CENTER ALONG HWY 99 JUST SOUTH OF YUBA CITY. IT MOVED NE TOWARDS OSWALD AND BARRY ROADS AND N ALONG RAILROAD AVE. THE TORNADO TRAVELED A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 3.5 MILES.
22:08 UTCTORNADO1 Ese South Yuba CitySutter, CASUTTER CO SHERIFF AND FIRE DEPT REPORTED TORNADO AT APPROX 3:08 PM. REPORTS OF POWER LINES DOWN AND SMALL STRUCTURES HIT.
22:30 UTCTORNADO 12 Ese OlivehurstYuba, CATHE NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM HAS RATED A TORNADO WHICH OCCURED ON 10/22/2012 ALONG RANCH RD NEAR OLIVEHURST AS AN EF1. THE ESTIMATED PATH LENGTH WAS A HALF MILE WITH WIND SPEEDS ESTIMATED AT 90 TO 100 MPH. A STURDY ROOF ON
22:55 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD4 E VeronaSutter, CAPUBLIC REPORTS FUNNEL CLOUD.
23:10 UTCTORNADO 03 Wsw Browns ValleyYuba, CATHE NWS STORM SURVEY HAS RATED THE 10/22/2012 BROWNS VALLEY STORM AS AN EF0 TORNADO. THIS TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN A RICE FIELD NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF SPRING VALLEY ROAD AND JOINES ROAD AND TRAVELED A DISTANCE OF AROUND
23:10 UTCTORNADO7 S PalermoButte, CATORNADO TOUCHDOWN IN RICE FIELD 3 ESE OF HONCUT
23:15 UTCTORNADO3 Wsw Browns ValleyYuba, CADEPUTY SAW TORNADO TOUCH DOWN IN RICE FIELD NEAR SPRING VALLEY ROAD AND JOINES RD
00:19 UTCTORNADOHiggins CornerNevada, CAFIRE DEPT REPORTS TORNADO TOUCH DOWN NEAR LAKE OF THE PINES AREA.
00:30 UTCTORNADO 1Higgins CornerNevada, CATHE NWS STORM SURVEY HAS RATED THE 10/22/2012 LAKE OF THE PINES STORM AS AN EF1 TORNADO. THIS TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR HIGHWAY 49 AT COMBIE ROAD AND TRAVELED A DISTANCE OF AROUND 4 MILES TO THE NORTHEAST. WINDS WERE EST

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

The other tornadoes of October 22, 2012

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 223:30 PM PDTEF1Yuba, CA0.3100
October 224:10 PM PDTEF0Yuba, CA0.450
October 224:45 PM PDTEF1Sacramento, CA1.0100
October 225:28 PM PDTEF1Nevada, CA4.0100

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.