Dashcam Shows Intensity Of California Tornado

 The rare California tornado that struck the community Scotts Valley last Saturday was "only" and EF-1 with a brief path. Wind topped out at 90 mph, and it only traveled for about a third of a mile before dissipating. 

In a screen grab from a dash cam in a parked truck
in Scotts Valley, California last Saturday, a tornado
emerges from behind a 7-Eleven and in a couple
seconds, will flip the vehicle with the dash cam.

A dash cam video of that tornado which recently emerged shows the power and suction of even a modest tornado that pales in comparison to the monsters that sometimes roam the Great Plains and South. 

Television station KSBW aired footage from a dash cam in a truck parked in the Mt. Herman shopping center lot that was hit by the storm. The video is at the bottom of this post.

In the video, things initially don't seem so bad. There's increasing wind and rain, and some small branches zip by in the gusts. But soon enough a narrow but violent looking funnel appears from behind a 7-Eleven store

The debris-filled swirl hits the front of the truck, then goes over it, flipping it on its side, coming to rest against a white car parked next to it.  The funnel is so narrow that it didn't really hit the white car just a couple feet to the right. That white car stays pretty much where it was.   

The truck that contained the dash cam was totaled, said owner Myrl Wallace. 

This small tornado demonstrates graphically that it's always important to seek shelter in a sturdy building if you hear a tornado warning. Vehicles are not safe places in tornados. 

It doesn't look like anybody was in the truck with a dash cam. And in the Scotts Valley case, the twister formed so quickly there was no tornado warning. But you get the idea. 

To view the video, click on this link. Or, if you see the image below, click on the image below