California Severe Weather Increases Risk of Rare Tornadoes

The California storm, which has been furious for several days already, has led to the occurrence of severe weather across the state, increasing the risk of rare tornadoes amid prolonged heavy rain and strong winds.

US meteorologists warned of a slight tornado risk, an infrequent phenomenon in the Golden State due to its dry climate and lack of thunderstorms.

California Tornado Threat

Tornado warnings were issued to over 400,000 people near Stockton and Modesto on the early morning of Tuesday, January 10.

Many Californians woke up and took to social media with their disbelief about the tornado alerts, according to Newsweek.

Screenshots of the alerts showed the National Weather Service (NWS) issued an advise to the public in the affected areas to take shelter in a basement or interior room.

FOX Weather cited a report from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that there is a 2% chance of a tornado happening within 25 miles of any point along the central California coast, which excludes San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose areas.

FOX Weather Meteorologist Kendall Smith said this is the zone where thunderstorms that can quickly rotate are most likely to occur, highlighting the California right now has enough instability and wind shear in the atmosphere to allow some of the thunderstorms to produce a tornado.

Basements are Scarce in California

However, some California residents on Twitter argued that their homes do not have basements due to the frequency of earthquakes, adding to the fact that there is no reason to design a tornado-proof house due to the almost absence of the swirling vortex of air.

One person tweeted in confusion that local authorities always advise people to go to their non-existent basements whenever there is a tornado in California.

The reason why California homes, in general, have no basements is due to the fast-paced construction and development after World War II in 1945. Santa Monica Architect Dan Jansenson, says post-WWII tract-building methods were designed to construct houses as quickly as possible, as cited by the Los Angeles Times.

Since recordings started in 1950, there have been a total of 467 tornado events across California as of September 2022, according to The NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Recurring California Storms

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency ahead of the California storm last Wednesday, January 4, leaving over 200,000 people still without electricity.

Earlier this week, US weather authorities have issued tornado alerts, including tornado warnings and tornado watches, for different parts of the Golden State amid the Pacific storm train, driven by atmospheric rivers that carries water vapor.

Meteorologists consider the occurrence of twisters or even tornado outbreaks to be rare in California, where the prevailing weather and climate conditions are relatively warm weather with prolonged drought and dry conditions.

These are some of the ingredients of fire weather that favors the formation of wildfires such as bushfires and forest fires.