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How meteorologists tracked the tornado risk in Scotts Valley, San Francisco

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How meteorologists tracked the tornado risk in Scotts Valley, San Francisco


The intense weather seen all around the Bay Area this weekend made for long days for the employees at the National Weather Service’s Bay Area offices in Monterey. The first-ever tornado warning was issued for San Francisco on Saturday and a tornado was confirmed later that day in Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County.

While having one tornado warning and another actual tornado all in one day might be common in other parts of the country, in the Bay Area, it’s a rarity.

As SFGate first reported, two National Weather Service Bay Area meteorologists had a long day Saturday as they started the day surveying damage in San Francisco and finished the day responding to the tornado in Santa Cruz County.

The two meteorologists, Brian Garcia and Dalton Behringer, started their morning on Saturday at the NWS Monterey offices.

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At 5:50 in the morning, Behringer recalled clocking in as his colleagues who had been up all night working had just issued the first-ever tornado warning for San Francisco. Behringer said that a warning was issued due to what NWS had seen on the radar, which indicated there might have been a tornado in San Francisco.

Once the storm had passed, Behringer and Garcia drove up to San Francisco around 10:00 a.m. to investigate whether a tornado had touched down. They found the most intense tree damage on the western end of Golden Gate Park around the Bison Paddock.

“You couldn’t look a single direction without seeing a tree down somewhere or branches down somewhere,” Behringer recalled.

However, the meteorologists noticed something about the way the trees had fallen: they all fell in the same direction. They observed other notable damage in the Richmond District, the Presidio, the Mission, and Bernal Heights, but ultimately, they found no evidence of a tornado.

Behringer said that based on weather conditions, there might have been a funnel cloud or water spout while the storm was over the water near San Francisco. Still, because the peak of the storm happened before sunrise, there isn’t any documentation of that.

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While the meteorologists were wrapping up in San Francisco Saturday afternoon, they got a call from their office alerting them that Scotts Valley had a tornado.

So Behringer and Garcia were then dispatched from San Francisco to Santa Cruz County, trying to get there in time to make the most of the remaining daylight hours.

When they arrived in Scotts Valley, the meteorologists saw many downed trees, downed power lines, damaged cars, and debris strewn across a retail center parking lot.

Unlike the scene in San Francisco, they saw what Behringer called the tell-tale sign of a tornado in Scotts Valley: debris strewn in multiple different directions.

“You look to your right and there’s a sign that fell this way and you look to your left and there’s a sign that fell the other way and that’s exactly the thing that we look for,” Behringer explained.

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The team determined that the tornado was an EF1 strength because of the cars it flipped over.

In a month where Bay Area residents are getting lots of practice with emergency warnings, many are wondering: why was a tornado warning issued for San Francisco and not Santa Cruz County?

Behringer explained that several factors played into this. He noted that the NWS put a special marine warning in place when the storm was over the water near Santa Cruz. He said that the warning also advised about the possibility of water spouts as the storm passed over the water.

Behringer said the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning about ten minutes before the tornado hit. He added that the advised actions for a severe thunderstorm warning in the Bay Area are the same as those for a tornado.

Move to the lowest floor of your home or business and get to the most interior room,” he said.

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“With a lack of ground verification, and just taking into account what had happened earlier in the day, and having the knowledge with us surveying that the tornado actually didn’t touch down in San Francisco, I think that kind of prompted a little hesitancy as far as going full tornado warning,” Behringer said of the warnings for the Santa Cruz County weather event.

Behringer noted these storms happen fast, and it is hard to get real-time information, especially in less-populated areas like Santa Cruz County.

In San Francisco, on Sundays, many residents made their own on-the-ground observations as they walked through the toppled trees throughout the city.

San Francisco residents Sharaya Souza and Matthew Crane walked through Golden Gate Park on Sunday, in part, to check on the bison in the park’s Bison Paddock after the storm.

“A couple of fences were crushed,” Crane said of the Bison Paddock, noting that while the bison were still enclosed, there was damage to the area around them.

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Souza said she’s seeing more damage from this storm in the park than previous ones.

“Especially from last year, there were a lot of  fallen trees and we had really heavy rainfall, and I feel like this year it’s just taken an even bigger hit,” she noted

While the Bay Area is not known for tornadoes, Behringer said the conditions and the chances aligned Saturday.

“The fact that we were doing two separate damage surveys yesterday in the same day was quite astonishing,” he added, calling Saturday a “standout day” in his work four years with NWS Bay Area.

Behringer said his colleagues continue to survey the Scotts Valley location for more details. Saturday was certainly a noteworthy day for Bay Area weather, and one meteorologist will continue to study.

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco considers closing some permanent supportive housing

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San Francisco considers closing some permanent supportive housing


In San Francisco, homeless advocates are expressing concern as the city considers potentially closing some of its permanent supportive housing sites. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, homeless service providers reported that the mayor’s chief of health and human services met with housing providers last month that the city was working on a list of potential buildings to be closed.

Multiple homeless advocates told NBC Bay Area they had heard about this proposal and the general approach by Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office to reexamine how the city uses permanent supportive housing.

“This is something that’s been discussed for a few months at this point,” said Christin Evans, a former San Francisco Homeless Oversight Commissioner and current small business owner in the city.

Advocates describe permanent supportive housing (PSH) as a more stable and long term option for people experiencing homelessness, providing a place to live that is directly connected to the health and social services a person needs when transitioning out of homelessness. San Francisco currently has more than 9,000 site-based permanent supportive housing units.

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Mayor Daniel Lurie’s press secretary, Charles Lutvak, shared a statement on Thursday, noting, “… our administration is prioritizing tools to get people struggling with addiction into treatment and the path to stability.”

“Permanent supportive housing is a critical one, but we need to make it work better,” Lutvak continued, noting the city is spending $300 million a year while also facing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal cuts.

Lutvak also said it is not determined yet whether the city will be closing permanent supportive housing beds in the coming months.

Still, the conversations so far are enough to have advocates worried.

“Every housing unit you get rid of, you’ve got additional homeless people on the streets,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director with the Coalition on Homelessness.

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Friedenbach said there are currently thousands of people on the city’s waitlist to get into permanent supportive housing.

“Permanent supportive housing does work. It has been studied to death, and it is the primary resolution of homelessness that has the highest level of success,” she added.

This conversation about permanent supportive housing units is unfolding as the city already faces a 643 million dollar budget gap. But advocates argue, while housing is expensive, it will cost the city even more to have unhoused people in the city who are disconnected from a place to live or support services.

“We’re cutting really essential services for our most vulnerable san Franciscans, and its actually going to harm our recovery as a city,” Evans said.

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San Francisco tops US housing market as homes sell far over asking, report says

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San Francisco tops US housing market as homes sell far over asking, report says


The average San Francisco home sold for nearly 90% over the asking price in March, according to Redfin.

The city is now the most expensive metro area in the country.

Artificial intelligence is driving much of those costs, as companies grow and hire, with many requiring staff to work in person.

Housing inventory, on the other hand, isn’t keeping up.

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NBC Bay Area spoke with Arrian Binning, an agent with the Binnings Team at Christie’s San Francisco, who said the city is expensive but worth the investment.

“San Francisco is one of the best markets in the world,” Binning said. “I’ve seen supply constriction benefit property owners, so when you’re a property owner in a market that has scarce inventory but also is an engine of growth, that’s kind of the trifecta in terms of investing your hard-earned dollars into a new home.”

San Francisco bumped San Jose out of the top spot.

In San Jose, the median home price in March was more than $1.46 million, about what it was a year ago.

NBC Bay Area’s Kris Sanchez has the full report in the video above.

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San Francisco, CA

Thousands head to San Francisco’s East Cut for 415 Day Market & Party

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Thousands head to San Francisco’s East Cut for 415 Day Market & Party


On April 15, back in the year 1850, San Francisco was first incorporated as a city. Each year on April 15, many in San Francisco celebrate 415 day, honoring that anniversary and the date that aligns with the city’s area code. Wednesday, thousands of people headed to The Crossing at East Cut for a night market to ring in the occasion.

This night market was hosted by San Francisco-based record label EMPIRE along with the East Cut Community Benefit District. The event brought a fleet of food trucks and local vendors to the plaza at The Crossing at East Cut, as well as musical talent performing throughout the evening. This night market was free for attendees and drew in people of all ages, many of whom were decked out in their most San Francisco-inspired outfits.

“We are so honored to have this happening here at The Crossing at East Cut, to be welcoming people from across the city, from across the Bay Area, to come see what downtown can be, and to celebrate the beauty of San Francisco,” said Andrew Robinson, the executive director of the East Cut Community Benefit District. Robinson explained that this was the Benefit District’s first time helping to put on the 415 Day celebration. He noted that the event brought in welcome business and foot traffic to the neighborhood.

EMPIRE CEO Ghazi Shami, who is a San Francisco native, was at the event too. Shami explained to NBC Bay Area that the event is a chance to put a spotlight on the creative community in San Francisco.

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“I’m a product of my environment, I love San Francisco,” Shami said.

“It’s perfect time to celebrate, like our cultural diversity, music, food, street fashion, all the things that make San Francisco unique,” he said.

Shami added that he hopes next year to see even more 415 Day celebrations across San Francisco.

“I hope this becomes something that everybody adopts and celebrates no matter where you’re from,” he said.

The crowds at the event continued to grow throughout the night. People stopped to take photos with a giant, illuminated “415 Day” sign at the plaza.

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“Just seeing this community come together, the diversity, the music, the food, we got it all in San Francisco,” said San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, addressing the crowd at the start of the event.

An artist who goes by the name Mando told NBC Bay Area he though the event was “well orchestrated,” he enjoyed the food, drinks, and entertainment.

Mando, who lives in San Francisco, said he thinks 415 Day is an important holiday for the city.

“I think celebrating 415 Day is like a religion, if you’re from the city you basically gotta live it up today, today is the day,” he said.

“The bridge, the city, the everything, the music, the culture, it’s a beautiful thing, today’s the day to just let it all out and not care about nothing,” he continued.

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