Tuesday mornings rain total from the day before was 1.41" bringing the week storm total 1.85". Although the sky was cloudy most of the morning the next band of rain didn't start until almost 11:45 AM. This would prove to be one of the strongest fronts of the week. Unfortunately my work duties kept me inside for most of the event. Reports from friends kept me in the loop. The rain started as early as 10 AM and covered the county by noon. At 12:45 PM the National Weather service issued the first of four consecutive TORNADO WARNINGS!
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
1245 PM PST TUE JAN 19 2010
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN DIEGO HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
ORANGE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...SEAL BEACH...HUNTINGTON
BEACH...WESTMINSTER...GARDEN GROVE...IRVINE...FULLERTON...COSTA
MESA...ANAHEIM...
* UNTIL 130 PM PST
* AT 1237 PM PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 17 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF HUNTINGTON BEACH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
HUNTINGTON BEACH BY 110 PM PST...
FOUNTAIN VALLEY...COSTA MESA...WESTMINSTER AND GARDEN GROVE BY 120
PM PST...
SANTA ANA BY 125 PM PST...
TUSTIN...TUSTIN FOOTHILLS...ORANGE AND 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF IRVINE
BY 130 PM PST...
13:14 PST 248mi Composite Reflectivity - Image courtesy of OCWX.NET
Shortly after this was issued, a tornado was spotted in the Sunset Beach community of Huntington Beach as indicated in the following LSR.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
336 PM PST TUE JAN 19 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1257 PM TORNADO HUNTINGTON BEACH 33.69N 118.01W
01/19/2010 ORANGE CA PUBLIC
TORNADO SPOTTED ON PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY JUST SOUTH OF
ANDERSON STREET. THE FUNNEL CROSSED THE HIGHWAY AND
HEADED NE. A BLACK LIMO WAS LIFTED UP AND AN SUV WAS
FLIPPED AND THROWN INTO A TREE. DOWNED TREES AND ROOF
DAMAGE WERE ALSO SEEN IN THE AREA.>>
I was monitoring the situation o the iPhone getting updates from multiple sources. Storm chaser, Will Wilkens was positioned just two miles from the location and took the time lapse video below.
Once he heard about the tornado on the ground he was on scene in minutes, before authorities arrived. Will who is an Associate Chaser with severestudios.com shot video of a car overturned, tree damage, and roof damage from an EF-0 Tornado that touched down in the Huntington Beach, CA area.
Aside from the tornado, there were damaging winds, lightning an hail which spread across the county. A friend in the canyon told me every intersection along Orangethorpe east of Kraemer was flooded. He also said the storm channel crossing under at Tustin avenue was full and started flowing over the channel siphon/bridge. Needless to say, this was one of the most wild days of the week.
By 2:30 PM, the bulk of the rain had passed and damage assessment began in the calm. Most of the county began to dry the rest of the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment