Tornadoes Touch Down In Rural Parts Of NorCal

May 25, 2011 11:58 PM

Tornado spotted near Chico on May 25, 2011. (CBS viewer photo)

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CHICO (CBS 5 / AP) – The National Weather Service along with local police and news agencies reported numerous tornadoes Wednesday evening during a two-hour period in rural areas of Butte and Glenn counties, outside of Chico, but there was no immediate word of any significant damage or injuries.

The weather service said Doppler radar showed a tornado on the ground east of Ord Bend, 11 miles southwest of Chico about 5:30 p.m. during a severe thunderstorm.

Meantime, the California Highway Patrol said residents and officers observed three other twisters hit a sparsely populated area of dairy land south of Chico, between Interstate 5 and Highway 99.

The CHP said no significant damage has been reported, though there were four minor accidents in the area.

The National Weather Service said around 6:41 p.m. Wednesday radar showed the storm associated with at least one tornado about 13 miles south of Chico, about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The storm system moved east through Glenn and Butte counties.

A television news helicopter also captured video of a twister forming and touching down near Durham, a tiny community about five miles south of Chico.

5 Comments

Paul Burnett

The videos look a lot more like common dust devils than actual tornados. Almost anybody who has driven along I-5 in the Central Valley has seen these.

May 25, 2011 at 8:31 pm | Reply | Report comment

P Alley

Hon, dust devils don’t take out ten acres of trees and a few buildings…. From the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, it looked pretty darn spectacular, considering the animal barns flooded and cars got wet door from the runoff! It was a heckuva storm, no questions asked.

May 25, 2011 at 8:51 pm | Reply | Report comment

s.f. peaches

I live in a condominium in San Francisco, and found it reassuring when the management company said the building was insured against tornadoes. A tornado touched down in the Pacific near Ocean Beach earlier this year, and we should take that seriously. Weather patterns are changing, and we need to adjust to those changes. Don’t panic, but be realistic. Learn the safety measures. If you have friends or family in the midwest, listen carefully to what they have to say.