National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Lake-Effect Snow through Friday; Strong Winds in the Northern and Central Plains

A clipper-like system will drop down from Canada on Thursday, bringing wintry weather from the Upper Midwest to the Great Lakes through Friday. This system is expected to bring strong northerly winds to much of the northern and central High Plains Thursday afternoon through Friday, with gusts up to 60 mph expected. Read More >

January 23rd Storm in Contra Costa County



A very strong thunderstorm went through a portion of Contra Costa County near Brentwood and Discovery Bay on Saturday, January 23rd. The following pictures were taken by Diane Rybicki of the Contra Costa Water District and are used here with her permission and the permission of the Contra Costa Water District.

  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/Hail Storm 009.jpg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/Hail Storm 007.jpg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/Hail Storm 006.jpg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/Hail Storm 004.jpg

A low topped super cell produced an EF0 tornado near Brentwood. The tornado crossed power lines and destroyed a utility pole. An eyewitness described the tornado as high winds from swirling white cloud. The pole was twisted to the ground and the top one-third of the 40-foot pole was splintered. Fifty-five customers lost power at 12:54 p.m. PST.

  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood.jpeg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood2.jpeg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood3.jpeg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood4.jpeg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood6.jpeg
  • /images/mtr/Storm Summary/TornadoHail_1_23_2010/brentwood9.jpeg

Radar Loop of the Low Topped Cell.  Tornado location noted on map