Tornado touched down in Calaveras County, National Weather Service confirms
The National Weather Service on Wednesday confirmed that a tornado touched down early Tuesday morning in Calaveras County, about 45 miles northeast of Oakdale.
The tornado hit near the town of Milton by a small reservoir and Hogan Dam Road at 4:10 a.m., according to the NWS.
It continued northeast for about 0.4 miles, uprooting and causing extensive damage to multiple white oak and pine trees. The width of the tornado’s path was about 50 yards and it reached speeds of 90 mph.
The tornado was classified as an EF-1, which amounts to moderate damage. The scale goes up to EF-5, with speeds exceeding 200 mph.
The incident was one of two areas of damage confirmed by the NWS as a result of the severe thunderstorms that rolled through the region early in the morning Tuesday.
The other was east of Oakdale, where 75 mph winds carried a horse stable over a 5-foot-tall fence from one property to the neighboring property at about 4 a.m.
Radar at the time of the thunderstorms detected rotation in the storm and other storms across the area, according to the NWS. The agency said rotation in storms is normal and the vast majority do not turn into tornadoes. The Milton tornado was confirmed based on the rotation and damage assessment in coordination with the Calaveras County Office of Emergency Services.
Residents in Stanislaus and Calaveras counties received tornado warning alerts at 3:43 a.m. Tuesday, giving a lead time of 17 minutes in the Stanislaus County incident and 27 minutes in Calaveras County.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 2:07 PM.
