Tornado Spotted Monday in California!

4 Jan 2021, 8:31 am

A strong storm system moved through Northern California on Monday, dropping through a strong enough cold front that produced a tornado!

Severe Outlook

Earlier today, Northern California was under a marginal risk (level 1, on a scale of 1 to 5) for severe storms.

Tornado Potential

As storms developed, there was enough spin in the atmosphere to produce some rotation in a thunderstorm.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1346253370554785793

Forecast

As our cold front continues to push onshore, precipitation is expected to continue overnight. But most of the heavier storms will weaken, and most of the notable precipitation will fall as snow in the Sierra Nevadas and into Northern Utah and Northern Colorado.

Forecast Snowfall

Snowfall over the Wasatch and Uinta mountain ranges in Utah could be on the order of 5″-10″ with locally higher amounts. The same forecast holds for around Steamboat Springs, CO too.

For more details on the snow chances in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and northern California we have another article write up here: More Snow to Add to Sierra Snowpack.

About the author

Devon Lucie

Devon is a native of Macomb in Western, Illinois but has made his travels across the country from Las Vegas to Washington, D.C. with stops in Tulsa, Little Rock, Kansas City, and Salt Lake City. His passion for weather developed at an early age and can be traced back to when he was 5 years old and dressed up as a walking tornado for Halloween. His college education came through the Universit... Load Morey of Oklahoma where he completed his B.S. in meteorology with a minor in math. Devon has been through weather extremes from 110°+ heat in Las Vegas, to 3 feet of snow in Washington, D.C. where in his first winter experienced the all-time record snowfall for the season (winter of 2009/2010)! He’s also chased tornadoes in Oklahoma and saw his very first off of I-70 on the front range of Colorado.