A fifteen-minute-long tornado warning rattled San Franciscans on December 14th. Though that warning turned out to be inflated, it existed within a year marked by increased tornado activity.
San Francisco has had a tumultuous December (from a natural events standpoint). A 7.0-magnitude earthquake — the largest earthquake to strike NorCal in over 30 years — shook an area 45 miles off the coast of Eureka, sending shockwaves that were felt hundreds of miles away and triggering a tsunami warning … that once the initial panic was quelled, birthed many memes. (The earthquake also allowed another robotic vacuum cleaner to garner internet virality and inspire the masses to take on charting paths less traveled.)
When we thought we were in the clear for another natural phenomenon, San Francisco received its first-ever tornado warning.
The warning itself went into effect close to 6 a.m. PT on Saturday, December 14th, affecting about one million people and urging them to seek shelters. But just as quickly as it began, the warning — a first-ever for San Francisco — ended; by 6:15 a.m., the National Weather Service (NWS) had escalated the warning to a “high wind advisory” and the damage from the winds was found to be from strong straight-line winds, not an actual tornado.
In hindsight, it was cheeky and uncalled for; holiday tree ornaments were even created to play humor homage to the day. However, San Francisco’s first-ever tornado warning was issued within a larger trend that’s swirled around the United States this year: an increasing number of tornadoes.
A recent piece published in The New York Times shows preliminary data from national weather agencies points to 2024 being the most active year for tornados in a decade.
“We won’t know the final count of this year’s tornadoes until next year,” writes Marco Hernadez, a graphics editor for the Times. “2024 could end with not only the most tornadoes in the last 10 years, but one of the highest counts since data collection began in 1950.”
It was also among the deadliest years on record, toot. An estimated 53 people across seventeen states were killed by tornadoes this year; the deadliest year for tornadoes over the past fifteen years was in 2011 when the “super outbreak” event created 367 tornadoes from April 27th to April 28th across much of the American South and Midwest, collectively killing at least 324 people during the single-day weather event — which still stands as the deadliest tornado outbreak event ever recorded in the United States.
Hernandez noted that 2024’s storms were also “more severe” and costly … to the tune of over $46 billion.
This trend is only expected to increase as the climate crisis worsens, albeit not linearly. (There will be years with few severe storms and tornado outbreaks, but the accumulated average will increase.) And smartphones pinging with tornado warnings in San Francisco could become far more common as a result.
After seeing that map… I’ll stay here.