{"id":279864,"date":"2026-04-22T06:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279864\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T06:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T06:40:09","slug":"two-tornadoes-touched-down-in-fresno-and-madera-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279864\/","title":{"rendered":"Two tornadoes touched down in Fresno and Madera counties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Two tornadoes touched down in the San Joaquin Valley on Wednesday, April 21, prompting weather alerts across the region.<\/p>\n<p>As storms moved through the Valley, neighbors experienced hail, lightning and witnessed fast-moving clouds. <\/p>\n<p><p>Two tornadoes touched down in the San Joaquin Valley on Wednesday, April 21, prompting weather alerts across the region (FOX26).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Jason Mendez, public affairs representative for Westlands Water District, said people in his office raced outside to try and spot a tornado. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody&#8217;s phone was just going off with &#8216;tornado alert, tornado alert,'&#8221; Mendez said. &#8220;Naturally, we all came out of our office and started looking up,\u201d <\/p>\n<p><p>Videos shared by Jason Mendez showed the early formation of a tornado, including a rotating funnel (VIDEO: JASON MENDEZ).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Videos shared by Mendez showed the early formation of a tornado, including a rotating funnel. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kmph.com\/news\/local\/tornado-warning-issued-for-fresno-and-madera-counties-until-3-pm-nws-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">[RELATED] VIDEO: Tornado warning issued for Fresno and Madera counties<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mendez said seeing a tornado in California was unsettling at first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s a little unnerving at first for a Californian but it was still pretty cool to see for the first time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/inws.ncep.noaa.gov\/a\/a.php?i=126775071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">In response to National Weather Service alerts<\/a>, Clovis Unified School District placed all schools in the district under a \u201cshelter in place.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A damage assessment team from the National Weather Service reported snapped and uprooted trees from the tornado that touched down east of Clovis (NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE).\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5952a38c-e28b-4530-8cf8-8fd326037a0e-nwsmap.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A damage assessment team from the National Weather Service reported snapped and uprooted trees from the tornado that touched down east of Clovis (NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE).<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;All schools in CUSD have been placed on Shelter in Place due to a region-wide tornado alert by the National Weather Service. Students will be held in classrooms until further notice, and schools won&#8217;t release students until further notice. Buses are delayed, and we will communicate with families,&#8221; CLOVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT. <\/p>\n<p>The situation was unfamiliar and frustrating for some parents. <\/p>\n<p>Alexander Clark, a parent, said he questioned if school&#8217;s going on lockdown was necessary and warranted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said a tornado was coming but, you know, we have beautiful clear skies in this area,&#8221; Clark said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t understand why they&#8217;re keeping my daughter against her will.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mendez also said he was surprised by the shelter-in-place order, but understood the district\u2019s caution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were under a shelter in place, which was crazy, it&#8217;s not even near there but I figured out of precaution, that&#8217;s probably what they&#8217;re doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>As the day went on, neighbors around the Valley continued posting their views of the sky. <\/p>\n<p>Mendez said he used a drone to get a better look and was surprised by what he saw.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPopped it up, started looking to the west, and there (the tornado) was,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I was like, &#8216;Whoa, this is real, this is legit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forecast.weather.gov\/product.php?site=hnx&amp;issuedby=HNX&amp;product=LSR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">A damage assessment team reported <\/a>snapped and uprooted trees from the tornado that touched down east of Clovis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Two tornadoes touched down in the San Joaquin Valley on Wednesday, April 21, prompting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-279864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}