How common are tornadoes in California? Here’s when and where they usually hit

Tornadoes in California?

Yes, you heard that right.

On Tuesday, a tornado with wind gusts of up to 70 mph touched down in a rural area of southern Sacramento County near Galt, the National Weather Service reported.

Here’s how common tornadoes are in California, what causes them and how dangerous they can be:

How often do tornadoes occur in California?

On average California sees about 11 tornadoes per year. Thankfully though, they are smaller in size and don’t travel very far.

For reference: Kansas — where people deflect too many “Wizard of Oz” references — sees an average of roughly 88 tornadoes per year. Texas comes in at a whopping 132 tornadoes per year on average, according to the Texas Almanac.

When and where are they most common?

Spring and fall are the most common season for California to see tornadoes in the northern half of the Central Valley. They can form anywhere in the state, though.

What triggers a tornado in California?

Tornadoes are created with two very distinct components. First you need instability, which is essentially energy for thunderstorms, also known as rising air. In addition to rising air, winds need to change direction and change speed as you go up in the atmosphere, said meteorologist Cory Mueller from the National Weather Service.

How dangerous is a California tornado?

The National Weather Service uses the EF scale, or Enhanced Fujita, to determine the speed of tornadoes. The scale was “developed by the Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center, along with a forum of wind engineers, universities, private companies, government organizations, private sector meteorologists, and NOAA meteorologists from across the country.”

On average, in California tornadoes range from EF0 which is about 65 to 85 MPH, to EF3 which is 111 to 135 MPH. Though according to Mueller, EF3 tornadoes are very rare in California.

Below is the complete EF scale used by the National Weather Service:

• EF0 is 65 to 85 mph
• EF1 is 86 to 110 mph
• EF2 is 111 to 135 mph
• EF3 is 136 to 165 mph
• EF4 is 166 to 200 mph
• EF5 is anything greater than 200 mph

What should I do in a tornado?

The best thing to do during a tornado in California is to take shelter indoors and away from windows, Mueller said.

This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 1:52 PM.