California saw the first tornado of 2025 reported in the United States, after a whirlwind made landfall Friday evening in an unpopulated area of Tehama County, the National Weather Service said in a Saturday morning news release.
According to the weather agency, a trained spotter and footage from an ALERTCalifornia PG&E camera in the area, a brief tornado took place about eight miles northeast of Dairyville between approximately 5:18 p.m. and 5:21 p.m. Friday.
No damage or injuries occurred in the brief wind event that traveled approximately 0.8 miles, meteorologist Courtney Carpenter said in a news release.
“All evidence including radars were viewed and evaluated in coordination with the Tehama County Sheriff and Office of Emergency Services,” Carpenter said. “There will not be a damage survey team sent to the area, as there is no damage to survey.”
How strong was it?
The tornado’s wind peak and rating are both unknown, the news release said.
“The preliminary determination is that this was an EF-U (unknown) tornado that touched down for approximately 3 minutes with a path length of approximately 0.8 miles and unknown peak wind,” Carpenter said.