Wednesday night’s Los Angeles Metro tornado touched down at 11:14 a.m. ET: Multiple tornadoes, damaged buildings, and destroyed power poles
The strongest tornado to impact the Los Angeles Metro area since March 1983 touched down at 11:14 a.m. for two to three minutes, according to the National Weather Service. Its peak winds topped 100 miles per hour and injured at least one person. Nearby Santa Barbara county saw a smaller tornado the same day, with peak winds of about 75 miles per hour, according to NWS.
The “intense microcell” damaged at least 17 buildings, 11 so severely the fire department deemed them too dangerous to use, according to Michael Chee, a city public information officer.
The video shows a swirling cloud of black debris as the roof of a nearby building is torn off by the storm. Vehicles have damage and shattered windows.
But even with that weak rating, it damaged 17 structures, uprooted a tree, snapped a power pole and destroyed car windows, and LAist reports that one person suffered minor injuries. Taking shelter indoors and away from windows is the best way to stay safe in a tornado.
There are weak funnel clouds a couple of times a year but they don’t cause a lot of damage. There are landspouts, small tornadoes that have no rotating updraft and were warned on Tuesday by forecasters in southern California.
They are more like a waterspout than a landspout. These differ from more traditional tornadoes that form from rotating thunderstorms, like those common in the Central Plains and the Southeast. While landspouts can cause damage, it is generally not extensive or severe.
Wednesday’s intense weather comes as California has been plagued in recent months by at least 12 atmospheric rivers that have brought devastating flooding and hurricane-force winds. An atmospheric river is like a fire hose that carries saturated air from the tropics to higher latitudes, dumping relentless rain or snow.
At least five people died due to the storm in the San Francisco Bay Area as fierce winds lashed cities on Tuesday, toppling trees and power lines. The peak of the storm resulted in over 700 fallen trees and limbs and reports of glass and debris falling from high rise towers, according to the city of San Francisco.
The Nature of Tornadoes and the Enhanced Fujita Scale in the El Capistrano-Mexicana Region
There are two key components to tornadoes, according to NWS. The first is instability, with warm, moist air near the ground and cooler dry air higher up. The second happens when the wind speed goes higher up. The conditions combine to create a rotating updraft that can lead to a tornado.
NWS classifies tornadoes using the Enhanced Fujita scale, which is based on estimated wind speeds and tornado-related damage. The Montebello tornado was found to be weak.