EF1 tornado, Bayliss to Artois, California, March 26, 2014

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 26, 2014

Touchdown

5:30 PM PDT (00:30 UTC)

Lifted

5:33 PM PDT (00:33 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Glenn County

Touchdown point

39.590, -122.089

Lift-off point

39.583, -122.080

Record number

1403261830-01

A trough over the eastern Pacific dropped southward over the region bringing a series of shortwaves across interior Northern California. These shortwaves brought enough instability and moisture to produce tornadic supercells to interior NorCal. One tornado was reported on March 25th and five tornadoes were reported on March 26th. The trough also brought heavy snow to the Northern Sierra Nevada and Western Plumas County, mainly Wednesday and Wednesday night (March 26) with snow levels dropping to 4000-5000 ft.

Based on eye witness interviews we believe this was the first tornado to touch down around 5:30 pm, and then tracked southeast for about 5-10 minutes. A pheasant pen and an outbuilding both lost their roofs. The outbuildings roof was made of sheet metal and some individual pieces were thrown between 800-1000 feet east/southeast of the outbuildings location. Some of the heavier pieces (150 lbs) were thrown 350 feet from the original outbuilding.

Based on eye witness interviews, believe this tornado originated around 5:30pm as well and tracked nearly due east along CR41. It removed the roof of a barn near Road R, damaged an outbuilding made of sheet metal, turned over a carport and broke a utility pole (8 inches in diameter) of a local residence just west of Road S. An outcrop of cottonwood trees on a dairy farm at CR 41 and TT was badly damaged. Some of the tree limbs landed on structures to house calves, but no livestock were injured. Also, down road TT, a stop sign was ripped off its metal pole and thrown 50 yards in the field just east.

Based on eye witness interviews, this tornado originated around 5:45 pm at a residence along CR 39, west of Road P. Based on damage, the tornado appeared to track along the fence of the residence, taking out deciduous trees before turning west and taking out the chain link fence. It threw lawn furniture into the residences pool, and lifted an awning up. Two support beams under the awning were pushed over before the awning was returned to it���s original location resting on the remaining support beams. The tornado then tracked through some orange trees, relieving them of a majority of their fruit, then another row of deciduous trees, pushing them to the west. The tornado then tracked through their almond tree orchard uprooting or breaking 60+ of their trees and removing almonds from other trees. The tornado tracked west to the next resident���s orchard taking out another dozen or so of his trees, but a majority of the crop was stripped off the trees. It then hit a tractor parked near his orchard, removing the shade shield and throwing it 157 feet. (Weight is 90 lbs). It also damaged a large eucalyptus tree with a large portion of the tree falling in between the residence and an outbuilding, with a portion landing on a dog kennel just below the tree. 2 trucks on the premises had a back and passenger rear window blown out by flying debris or hail. One of the tucks also sustained damage to a metal tool box in back of the truck. A debris path was apparent across CR 39 as it moved south of the road and impacted another almond orchard. Not much damage to north end of orchard, so tornado may have lifted up for a bit. Tornado touched back down just behind the residence and uprooted/broke 30+ trees. A cotton wood tree on the east end of the residence, top 1/3 of the tree was broken off, and landed immediately to the west into an alfalfa field. Toward the end of the row of almond trees near the residence, one of the uprooted trees was thrown 227 yards WSW into the alfalfa field. There was also a 24 foot debris path across the gravel road where the tree was dragged/carried into the field.

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

In the hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
501 PM PDT WED MAR 26 2014

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

0450 PM     HAIL             2 NNW ARTOIS            39.65N 122.20W
03/26/2014  E0.25 INCH       GLENN              CA   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            HAIL COVERING I-5 BETWEEN COUNTY ROAD 27 AND
            COUNTY ROAD 33. TRAFFIC IS STOPPED TO WAIT
            OUT THE STORM.

&&

NWS SACRAMENTO CA
IRIS SYSTEM

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
503 PM PDT WED MAR 26 2014

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

0458 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     2 W WILLOWS             39.52N 122.24W
03/26/2014                   GLENN              CA   PUBLIC

            RELAYED BY GLENN COUNTY SHERIFF.

&&

KS

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
530 PM PDT WED MAR 26 2014

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

0520 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     3 SW NICOLAUS           38.87N 121.62W
03/26/2014                   SUTTER             CA   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

KS

Chico Municipal (CIC), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:30 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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