California wildfire alert camera captures video of country’s first tornado of 2025

Wildfire alert camera captures video of tornado in Northern California

A camera system designed to monitor California’s vast terrain for smoke and wildfires captured video on Friday of what is believed to be the first tornado to impact the Lower 48 in 2025.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The country’s first tornado of 2025 did not occur in Alabama, Louisiana or the nation's famed tornado alley over the Plains, but instead struck Northern California on Friday.

A significant storm system that is expected to bring more than a foot of snow to parts of the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys was responsible for isolated thunderstorms that moved from southwest to northeast across a rural stretch of the Golden State.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Sacramento detected enough rotation in one of the storm cells to issue a Tornado Warning, advising residents in the affected area to seek substantial shelter and stay away from windows.

It was only after the warning was issued that meteorologists observed the apparent twister on a camera designed to monitor the area for wildfires and smoke, rather than for severe weather.

PG&E, the state’s largest utility, sponsors hundreds of wildfire cameras in Northern and Central California, which are occasionally used for monitoring wildlife, catching shooting stars and now, it seems, tornadoes.

Despite the sighting, NWS meteorologists stated they had not received any damage reports, which wasn't entirely unexpected given the rural nature of parts of Tehama and Shasta counties. They later put out a statement confirming the tornado lasted for 3 minutes and had an estimated path of about 0.8 miles. But due to the tornado's remote location and lack of any damage to investigate, they would not be sending a storm survey team and would leave the tornado with a rating of EF-Unknown. 

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According to statistics from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, California typically experiences fewer than a dozen tornadoes each year, and they are generally on the weaker end of the Enhanced Fujita Wind Scale.

Tornadoes in the state can occur during any month but are more common during the spring and fall.

Since 1950, there have been fewer than 500 reported tornadoes in the Golden State, resulting in injuries but no fatalities.

The last tornado to affect the state was an EF-1 that flipped vehicles and damaged businesses in the Scotts Valley part of Santa Cruz County in December.

There were several reported injuries during that event, but all were considered non-life-threatening despite a lack of advanced warning for the severe storm.

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Watch: Vehicles flipped in Scotts Valley after tornado rips through California town

A video recorded in Scotts Valley, California, on Saturday, shows the aftermath of an EF-1 tornado that ripped through the community as an atmospheric river storm was slamming the West Coast. The video shows cars and other vehicles that were flipped like toys while power lines and other debris litter the landscape.

WATCH: TORNADO FLIPS CARS, DAMAGES BUSINESSES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

The tornado was among at least 1,735 tornadoes that occurred across the country in 2024, according to SPC data.

The total is more than 40% higher than the typical number of tornadoes seen in an average year across the U.S.

The SPC noted that preliminary counts for the previous year are still ongoing, but 2024 is on track to be the second-busiest year on record.

The record for the most tornadoes in a single year was set in 2004, with 1,817 twisters.

The storm system that produced Friday’s tornado could lead to additional rotating supercells late in the weekend and early next week along the Gulf Coast, as instability is expected to be sufficient enough for severe thunderstorms on the southern side of a wintry mess affecting the northern tier of the country.