California Faces Rare Tornadoes Amid Torrential Downpours

Californians faced more severe weather events Tuesday morning with continued downpours, snow, strong winds and, to the shock of many, tornado warnings.

Last week, an atmospheric river of concentrated moisture hit California, dumping torrents of rain on the state. The Golden State has battled an array of weather conditions ever since, and many counties face flood warnings with some coastal areas like Montecito under mandatory evacuation.

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm last Wednesday. More than 200,000 people are still without power.

The latest weather threat included an increased risk for tornadoes, an occurrence that's rare in California because of the state's dry climate and lack of thunderstorms. Tornado warnings were issued to more than 400,000 people near Stockton and Modesto early Tuesday morning according to AccuWeather.

Many woke up and took to Twitter with their disbelief about the alerts. Screenshots of the alerts showed the National Weather Service (NWS) advising people in the affected areas to take shelter in a basement or an interior room.

California residents speculated on Twitter that their homes don't have basements because of the frequency of earthquakes, but many homeowner websites advise this isn't the case. Most California homes don't have basements because of the construction method utilized post-World War II optimizing quick construction with less cost, according to Home Owner Fix.

"it's ironic whenever there's a tornado in california we're told to go to our basement... is the basement in the room with us right now???" one person tweeted.

"Honestly, I've been thru a ton of tornado warnings in Michigan but never heard a tornado warning in California. And yeah, we don't have basements here, they don't work well with earthquakes," another tweeted.

Others joked that they wished the state could return to earthquakes, which it experiences much more frequently than tornadoes.

"Woken up by crazy lightening. It's over now but there was a tornado warning. Never in my 59 years of living in California have I seen a tornado warning....sheesh," a Twitter user wrote. "Can we just get back to earthquakes please?!"

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Mike Doll told Newsweek he hasn't yet been able to confirm if a tornado touched down in California Tuesday morning.

California averages 11 tornados per year, typically in the winter and spring. Although it is not the state with the least number of tornadoes each year according to weather.com, California is on the lower end of the tornado spectrum, compared to places like Texas and Kansas, which see an average of 155 and 96 tornadoes each year, respectively.

As of Tuesday morning, the ongoing storm has killed at least one person according to AccuWeather, although other news sources anticipate the death toll is much higher. AccuWeather meteorologist Ariella Scalese expects the storms to cause catastrophic damage equaling more than a billion dollars.

According to AccuWeather, the last tornado warning issued in the Sacramento area was on April 21, 2022.

Update 01/10/23, 11:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from AccuWeather senior meteorologist Mike Doll.