On Monday night, many Central Coast residents received an alert on their phones, informing them that there was the potential for a tornado.
“I honestly, I was expecting to get an earthquake warning before tornado warning in San Luis Obispo," said local resident Akshay Strawn. "So to get the tornado warning was definitely a bit of like, okay, so anything can really happen.”
Michael Reed, who lives in northern San Luis Obispo County, says he didn’t get the notification.
“Emergency alerts matter," Reed said. "Being in a place here where we've had a lot of flooding, there's been history of fires and things like that, getting an alert is super important, so I was a little concerned not to receive it.”
Most people don't expect a tornado to roll through the Central Coast. KSBY Meteorologist Vivian Rennie explained that there were two confirmed tornadoes in San Luis Obispo County in February of 2024, but before that, there hadn’t been a tornado in the county since 1950.
"It was the first two EF-1s or the first two strong tornadoes recorded in our area since the 1950s. That was last year. It's really strange to have another event already,” Rennie said.
According to the National Weather Service, there were no recorded instances of an actual tornado touching down Monday night, but Rennie says they could become more common.
“With slightly warmer waters comes slightly stronger storms. That's how we start to become in that area that can see some of those tornadoes,” she said.
Dr. Ariel Cohen with the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles explains that tornadoes need moisture, instability, and a change in vertical wind speed.
“It tends to bring in, to organize all of these ingredients in a cookbook together to favor the development of at least weak, brief tornadoes," he said about the tornadoes we see on the Central Coast.
Even though there were no blaring sirens to indicate an impending national disaster or even a record of a tornado hitting, Cohen says to stay vigilant.
“The main message is that they can happen, and the more likely you'll be able to stay safe is when you have an awareness of the weather conditions," he said, adding that if a tornado warning is ever issued again for the Central Coast, you should stay indoors, stay away from windows and go to the middle of your home.
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