People living, working, and driving in Davis, CA were recently shocked by the sight of a tornado touching down.
Wildhorse Golf Club employee Emma Dean was working her usual Saturday evening shift when she saw the tornado right in front of her, saying:
“So, we’re having our happy hour go on the patio and a big gust of wind came and knocked over all the drinks and knocked over a couple of chairs. Out of nowhere a woman just said, ‘There it is. And just left of the driving range we could just see a big brown … and just debris that had to be huge just spinning around and falling to the ground.”2
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Micheal Thomas, the director of golf at the club, said winds from the tornado knocked down tree branches all over the golf course. He told FOX40:
“The patio furniture was probably about 100 yards out the parking lot as well that way. So the wind gust was tremendous.”2
The National Weather Service (NWS) affirms that a tornado and many gustnadoes (an intense whirlwind at the leading edge of a storm front or squall line) touched down in two separate areas in Yolo County. On Sunday, weather experts completed a survey of the site and confirmed that Saturday’s weather event north of Davis was a weak, or “gale,” tornado. The NWS added:
The tornado formed about 6:40 p.m. and ended about 6:55 p.m., with wind speeds estimated between 68 to 74 mph, as it touched down just north of Wildhorse Golf Club in Yolo County, the NWS Sacramento office said in a tweet Monday morning.
Those wind speed register as an “EF0” on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the weakest reading still considered a tornado. EF0 tornadoes, aka “gale” tornadoes, can cause minor damage to buildings, break tree branches or knock down weak-rooted trees, and damage sign boards.1
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The gustnadoes were seen near westbound Interstate 80 in the area of Highway 113, which is near the University of California, Davis campus.
While many said seeing the tornado was impressive, they were thankful there was not much damage this time around. Iling Hao was visiting the campus from Los Angeles and said:
“Usually we get earthquakes, mudslides, and to see this, it’s something new. Luckily, everybody is safe and no one was harmed.”2
According to the National Weather Service, there was no severe damage left behind by the tornado.
