EF2 tornado, Central Camp to Beasore, California, September 5, 2020

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

September 5, 2020

Touchdown

3:17 PM PDT (22:17 UTC)

Lifted

3:37 PM PDT (22:37 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

12.0 miles (19.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Madera County

Touchdown point

37.350, -119.340

Lift-off point

37.522, -119.306

Record number

2009051617-01

The Creek fire started at 633 pm PDT on September 4th (Labor Day Weekend) in the vicinity of Big Creek, California near the town of Shaver Lake. The fire was in an area of very heavy tree mortality in the Sierra National Forest. The fire had explosive grown on September 5th and 6th under excessive heat and low humidity, but not much wind. The fire became plume dominated on the 5th and column collapses were noted by AlertFire Cameras late on the 5th within the extremely unstable environment. Damaging fire whirls occurred just north of Mammoth Pool with ground survey estimated winds at 115-125 mph, and near Huntington Lake with patterns indicating winds of 90-107 mph. By the evening of September 6th, the fire fire had grown to 73,278 acres. Extensive smoke|allowed the fire to slow some by Monday and Tuesday September 7th-8th, however the fore continued to grow, reaching nearly 153,000 acres by September 9th. Around this time, the complexity of the incident necessitated management of the fire to be split into a north zone and a south zone with 2 overhead teams assigned. The fire closed Highway 168 and may local roads and there were evacuations of as many as 45,000 people. Hundreds of people were rescued by California National Guard helicopters from the Mammoth Pool area and also from the China Peak ski resort. Hot ands dry conditions under strong high pressure continued throughout the remainder of September with extensive smoke often hampering air operations. By the end of September the fire had burned 307,051 acres and had destroyed 853 structures and damaged 64 others. Cost of containment was $106 Million. The fire continued to burn into November.

Storm survey conducted by on site NWS IMET. EF2 damage just north of Mammoth Pool, inside Wagner Campground and near Chawanakee Joint Elementary School. Multiple 2 foot diameter trees were snapped 20-30 feet up with branches and bark removed. The firewhirl prodcued estimated winds at 115-125 mph.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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.

NWS Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Sep 5, 2:30 PM PDT, 47 minutes earlier.

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Hanford CA
230 PM PDT Sat Sep 5 2020

.SYNOPSIS...
Near record heat is expected in parts of Central California this
afternoon. Record heat is likely in most of the forecast area
Sunday and Labor Day. A downward trend in temperatures is expected
Tuesday through Thursday. Be that as it may, temperatures will
remain above seasonal values. Smoke from adjacent wildfires will
continue to plague Central California through at least Wednesday.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Blocking High pattern still dominating the region as Central
California deals with air quality issue due to smoke and heat-wave
temperatures. While the upper-air pattern shows a southerly flow
pattern, near the surface, winds are light and terrain driven with
no support from any marine air. Therefore, temperatures have been
trending much higher today as the lower elevations and deserts
reach toward excessive heat levels. In addition, fires across the
Sierra Nevada are pushing more smoke into the area as the Creek
Fire near Huntington Lake just started this weekend. As the
blocking high pressure ridge continues to dominate the West Coast,
temperatures will continue rising as we see another heat wave
this Labor Day weekend.

Models are in good agreement with maintaining the persistent
blocking high pattern through at least the latter part of next
week. The solution of having the ridge pattern build over the West
Coast as temperatures reach toward possible excessive heat values
has worked out very well. Model consensus is to keep the center
of the high near the Great Basin with little movement throughout
the weekend and into early next week. With the position of the
ridge, confidence is high that the West Coast will see several
days of possible excessive heat (including today) as warnings are
currently in place. As the center of the High remains in place,
Sunday will see even warmer temperatures as dangerous heat (and
possible record setting temperatures) plague the region in early
September.

Models do attempt to drop a disturbance through the Great Basin
region near the middle of next week. Confidence is growing toward
this possible solution as winds may become a factor across Central
California. While a surge of cold air may push into the Great
Basin, the Sierra Nevada may not allow it to cross into Central
California. While not much of the disturbances dynamics will be
felt over the district, the disturbance’s passage may help to
kick-up easterly winds across the area. Will have to watch for
improving confidence toward a fire weather concern around the
middle of next week.

Reaching out to day seven, the blocking high persist as the
dominate features with minimal relief in sight. Therefore, while a
high pressure area will exist over the west, the position will
not favor a good monsoonal push of moisture into the area. The
position will therefore not provide the Central California area
with significant Thunderstorm activity. This pattern will lead to
hot and dry for at least the next seven days.

&&

.AVIATION...
Periods of MVFR visibilities are likely in the San Joaquin Valley
during the next 24 hours due to wildfires in Sequoia National
Forest east of Porterville. IFR visibilities are conceivable
closer to these wildfires in the Tulare County mountains.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
On Saturday September 5 2020...Unhealthy in Kern County. Unhealthy
for sensitive groups in Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare Counties
and Sequoia National Park and Forest. Further information is
available at Valleyair.org

&&

.CERTAINTY...

The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is high.
The level of certainty for days 3 through 7 is medium.

Certainty levels include low...medium...and high. Please visit
www.weather.gov/hnx/certainty.html for additional information
an/or to provide feedback.

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Excessive Heat Warning until 9 PM PDT Monday for CAZ179>191-
195>199.

&&

Public/Aviation....Molina
PIO/Social Media...MV

weather.gov/hanford

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.

The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:17 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.

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

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.