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Tornados in MoVal; Snow in Big Bear; hail in Baldwin Park ... this is May in SoCal??
BTW ... this tornado was about 4 miles from me and I could see it from the hill in my backyard. Wow!

Tornadoes aren't all that uncommon in So. Cal. We don't get the big ones like in the Midwest, but they appear often enough to not be a freak occurence. Back in the early-mid 20th century, the California boosters made it a point to have them described as other things in the papers. Stuff like "intense vorticular clouds" and "freak wind storms". They were afraid people wouldn't want to move away from tornadoes to a place that had them as well. Perhaps the tradition continues?

However, in May? Yeah...you're right on there.

That is one awesome pic!

I can't take credit for the pic ... that came from someone on the Riverside side of the 215 (and sent to KABC7). Check out their website for more pics.

no wonder why i was getting all these weather warnings

We had hail here in Murrieta too, it was so loud it woke me up. Marble sized hail and it was coming down hard! It was 100 degrees here only a couple of days ago.

Chapagne wrote:Tornadoes aren't all that uncommon in So. Cal. We don't get the big ones like in the Midwest, but they appear often enough to not be a freak occurence. Back in the early-mid 20th century, the California boosters made it a point to have them described as other things in the papers. Stuff like "intense vorticular clouds" and "freak wind storms". They were afraid people wouldn't want to move away from tornadoes to a place that had them as well. Perhaps the tradition continues?
However, in May? Yeah...you're right on there.

Ok ... agreed they have been spotted off and on in SoCal (my backyard can attest to that from last year's .5 funnel that tore out 2 6 foot bushes), but in the 50 years I've been on the planet and in California I can only think of a couple that were in the middle of a 185,000 person city and not offshore as waterspouts. The most recent that comes to mind was a "microcell" that ripped through Diamond Bar in the 90's.

I'm a weather junkie and I will venture a prediction ... This upcoming winter will be a "wet one" in Southern California. My reasons for that guess are very unscientific ... typically the cooler we are going into summer, the wetter we will be in the winter. The thing that is the capstone on that is if we get thunderstorms in August. It seems when we get the August storms, we also get the winter rain. My bones are a achin' ...

The Aceman wrote:We had hail here in Murrieta too, it was so loud it woke me up. Marble sized hail and it was coming down hard! It was 100 degrees here only a couple of days ago.

yea what sux is during school we had lunch during that hour. Around mid 11 to 12. I did not like it at all but of course there were some people just enjoying the hail/rain. Fun day yesterday though. Most of my friends enjoyed it. I mean why not, that is really rare for tornadoes, hail, rain and thunder and in some cases snow, to happen all in one day.

speaking of tornadoes in California, my dad took some gnarly photos right as he was in perris. He didn't have his actual camera but I guess cell phone cameras can also give you that same feeling haha. Sorry these photos are not the best but they'll show you how crazy it was in Perris/Moreno Valley.





And yes this is my dad that took them, not from a paper or anywhere else haha. There may be some similar ones though.

wow! and I thought I was close to this! Great photos.

Chapagne wrote:Tornadoes aren't all that uncommon in So. Cal. We don't get the big ones like in the Midwest, but they appear often enough to not be a freak occurence. Back in the early-mid 20th century, the California boosters made it a point to have them described as other things in the papers. Stuff like "intense vorticular clouds" and "freak wind storms". They were afraid people wouldn't want to move away from tornadoes to a place that had them as well. Perhaps the tradition continues?

However, in May? Yeah...you're right on there.

I've seen and been hit by dust-devils as big as these in Bakersfield during the heat of the summer. Back when I was in college I worked for my dad's constuction company during summer break. We used to build dairies and built serveral in the Bakerfield area. I remember one time a really big dust-devil came through our work site where we were installing shades across the corrals. The tin roofing sheets went flying and everybody had to drive under their cars and trucks to keep from being decapitated by the sheets of tin. Lots of the vehicles where damaged. And this dust-devil was no where near as large as others I have seen traveling across open ground during the heat of a summer day. Many appeared just as large as the "tornadoes" shown in these photos.

Bandmaster--yes, those devils can get downright nasty. Seen many myself.

And to Saxplyr...pass a message to your dad in reference to the pics he took that you so kindly shared with us. The message:

WHAT ARE YA? NUTS!?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't believe how close he was to that tornado. What was he thinking? YIKES!!!!!!!!!

Chapagne wrote:Tornadoes aren't all that uncommon in So. Cal. We don't get the big ones like in the Midwest, but they appear often enough to not be a freak occurence. Back in the early-mid 20th century, the California boosters made it a point to have them described as other things in the papers. Stuff like "intense vorticular clouds" and "freak wind storms". They were afraid people wouldn't want to move away from tornadoes to a place that had them as well. Perhaps the tradition continues?

However, in May? Yeah...you're right on there.

I was born in So Cal in the mid 50's, and other than a couple years in the early 60's when I lived in Indiana, I pretty much lived there from then till I left for Nor Cal in 1987, and I NEVER, EVER heard of tornadoes or "intense wind storms" or anything of the like when growing up. I can't imagine them be called, "not all that uncommon."

Ryan H. Turner wrote:Bandmaster--yes, those devils can get downright nasty. Seen many myself.

And to Saxplyr...pass a message to your dad in reference to the pics he took that you so kindly shared with us. The message:

WHAT ARE YA? NUTS!?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't believe how close he was to that tornado. What was he thinking? YIKES!!!!!!!!!

He was trying to get home from work haha. He just got off work when this was taking place (Note how close he was to the 215 haha.) So yea...If you ever pass by it's the bridge that I believe is Oleander Ave. or something like that in Perris. That bridge is where this was taking place and all around haha. He is not a person who tracks crazy weather systems lol.

JCYS wrote:I can't imagine them [tornadoes] be called, "not all that uncommon."

If this site is to be believed, they happen about annually in each county in So. Cal. I would call that non uncommon.
http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/catorn.htm

Chapagne wrote:

JCYS wrote:I can't imagine them [tornadoes] be called, "not all that uncommon."

If this site is to be believed, they happen about annually in each county in So. Cal. I would call that non uncommon.
http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/catorn.htm

Huh? There are 326 tornados listed ^ for California (ALL with no deaths). That is an average of 3 per year IN THE ENTIRE STATE. To have one per county annually in this same time period, there would be over 5600 listed. 3 per year IS uncommon. (by the way ... check out Kansas on that same site ... they have 5 pages posted!)

Give me a few and I'll tweek these even further (ie, desert vs coastal counties, how many of each "F", etc.)