RARE TORNADOES IN CALIFORNIA

(from the NWS website in San Diego at 4:45 EST 1/19/2010)
Written by: Brian Neudorff

California continues to be pounded and pounded by one storm system after another. These Pacific storms have already caused significant damage from winds, floods, and mudslides. On Tuesday a rare weather event occurred in Southern California, a tornado was reported n Huntington Beach which caused some minor damage.

Based on the reports I found from the Storm Prediction Center and their severe weather reports, possibly 3 tornadoes touched down in California along with a few waterspouts.

Time		Loc.	County	State	Lat	Lon	Comments
1830		GOLETA	SANTA BARBARA	CA	3444	11983	RADIO STATION KCOY IN SANTA BARBARA REPORTED A SHERIFFS DEPUTY SPOTTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR THE OCEAN MEADOW GOLF COURSE NEAR ISLE VISTA AROUND 1030 AM...ROOF DAMAGE (LOX)
2057		HUNTINGTON BEACH	ORANGE	CA	3369	11801	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 (SGX)
2145		HUNTINGTON BEACH	ORANGE	CA	3369	11801	PROBABLE TORNADO IN HUNTINGTON BEACH. BOATS UPLIFTED AND DAMAGED IN THE HB HARBOR. DAMAGE TO BUILDING IN AREAS. CAR FLIPPED 16400 PCH. (SGX)

The one in Huntington Beach may be the same tornado. As I was looking for more information on these particular tornadoes I found some interesting climatology on California tornadoes since 1950 until 2004:

Los Angeles county, over those 54 years 41 tornadoes have occurred. In Orange county 28 tornadoes San Diego county - 20, San Bernardino - 27 but in Santa Barbara only 3 tornadoes.

With more storms likely today through Thursday it's not out of the realm of possibility that another isolated tornado could occur.