A brief tornado warning for Santa Clara County ended without
incident or a sighting, but caused at least one middle school to
cancel its after-school programs, according to the National Weather
Service.
A brief tornado warning for Santa Clara County ended without incident or a sighting, but caused at least one middle school to cancel its after-school programs, according to the National Weather Service.
The warning included high winds, hail, and heavy rain and a twister that crossed through the Morgan Hill area around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
While weathermen saw the tornado on their radar system, no initial reports of seeing one touch ground in Morgan Hill were immediately reported.
Students at city after-school programs at Brownell Middle School were sent home early because of the warnings, according to school staff, and administrators at Christopher High School briefly considered putting the school on lock-down about 3 p.m. – dismissal time – Office Coordinator Janie Gillespie said. Students at after-school programs at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School were also sent home early, but Gilroy High School had dismissal as normal despite the warning.
Meanwhile, students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill saw about 30 minutes – from 2:20 to 2:50 p.m. – where they were not being allowed out of classrooms until parents were there to pick them up, said an attendance officer at the school who refused to give her name. Because of the tornado warning, more parents picked up their kids at dismissal at 3 p.m.
The ongoing series of storms that started early Monday morning has dealt increasingly severe weather to South County throughout the week. More rain is expected Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon, according to the NWS.
Ski resorts in the Sierra Nevada boasted feet of freshly fallen powder. Northstar at Tahoe received 28 inches of snow in the last 48 hours and Heavenly received more than a foot, according to their Web sites.