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What To Do in the Next Freak Tornado

Updated: Dec 16, 2024 09:32
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A tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma. 1999. Creative commons.

Saturday morning brought the city its first ever tornado warning. Around 5:45 AM, the National Weather Service identified a powerful rotating storm headed straight for San Francisco. With a tornadic signature confirmed via radar, the alert went out at approximately 5:50. Many woke to their screaming phones with no idea how to react to weather they’d never seen. 

This marks the second official instance of tornadic activity in San Francisco since recordkeeping began. In 1891, a tornado reportedly demolished a home at Filbert and Gough Streets, killing a man. What the city experienced this weekend could be described as a freak occurrence, a once-in-a-lifetime event. But who knows? Most of Northern California’s storm season still lies ahead. Severe weather in 2023 that flooded our freeways and lofted furniture from Soma highrise balconies struck in March. 

What should you do if this freak occurrence happens again?

First, think “earthquake,” but opposite.

In an earthquake, you should immediately get under a sturdy desk or table and stay put until the shaking stops. Hunkering down increases your odds of survival. Trying to run on the other hand may result in broken legs or your skull getting crushed by falling debris. People frequently suffer lacerations to the feet from running barefoot on broken glass. 

You’d better run from a tornado. Don’t be someone who thinks it’ll skip their house and take the neighbor’s. They usually don’t live to recount it. Unlike an earthquake, which affects everyone, tornadoes are erratic and unpredictable in their paths. Comedian Kyle Kinane has a great riff on the subject. The stereotype of Midwesterners peering outside to spot the funnel before taking cover is only true during the daytime. They are impossible to see at night. It’s best to shelter in case it’s your turn. 

If you’ve never experienced a tornado before, your first reaction might be no reaction. “I’m born and bred Californian,” said Ms. Karishma Kumar-Wessel, 33, to the New York Times. “So I really did think tornadoes were only in Oz.” Ms. Kumar-Wessel resides near Golden Gate Park, where the storm brought heavy damage. “I have an earthquake kit. If a tornado truly hit, what are you supposed to do? I would probably Google it, and then it would be too late.”

Next, get away from windows and move to the centermost part of your building.

Airborne shards of glass can easily be lethal. Whether you’re in a bungalow or a highrise, move away from windows and into an interior hallway. Not very many Californians have (access to) a basement, so the centermost part of your home will have to do. Get down against a strong wall in case it breaches the roof. We’ll probably never get a tornado big enough to skin a skyscraper, but you should put as many walls between you and the wind as possible, just to be safe.

And if you’re outside when the next freak tornado hits San Francisco? Move indoors as fast as you can. Don’t you dare try to out-drive it. That doesn’t even work on the Plains, where “traffic” occurs because some kid’s driving his dad’s tractor down the road. You’re limited to a grid and straight lines; the tornado is not. Not only can it outrun you, it can easily circle back for you.  

Another danger was compounding the tornado threat. A curtain of rain had wrapped around the center of rotation, making it impossible to tell whether a funnel had formed. The phenomenon is especially deadly; in 2011, a rain-wrapped tornado killed 158 people in Joplin, Missouri. Radar tracked Saturday’s storm across San Francisco. Had a tornado truly touched down, it would’ve clipped the northwest edge of Golden Gate Park, tearing into the Outer Richmond District until lifting near the southeast corner of the Presidio. 

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Finally, don’t emerge from shelter until the storm passes entirely.  

If you grew up in the Midwest like me, you’d refuse to leave the basement until the sound dies down. You’ll certainly hear it if a tornado gets close enough to threaten you. Imagine a blender big enough to chuck a house into, then hit the smoothie button. In the event you do hear it, you won’t want to get anywhere near it. It’s not the kind of noise that’ll coax you out of hiding. 

This could’ve been worse. The little mountain town of Scotts Valley roughly 60 miles south of San Francisco saw the rare touchdown of a California funnel cloud. “The tornado traveled southeast for just over a quarter mile, spinning out wind gusts that peaked at 90 mph and leaving a trail of destruction that measured up to 30 yards wide, before fizzling out at 1:44 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The agency assigned the tornado a rating of EF-1 based on wind speed.” (San Francisco Chronicle

Drop the same tornado on San Francisco and we could’ve seen deaths. We’re about as ready for this as my home state of Kansas is for earthquakes. As far as twisters go, San Francisco is an unlikely target, but Saturday proved it’s entirely possible. It never hurts to be prepared. 

See also: What to do after a tornado


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Jake Warren

Jake Warren

Gay nonfiction writer and pragmatic editor belonging to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. Service industry veteran, incurable night owl, aspiring professor.