A rare tornado struck the Los Angeles area on Wednesday. The swirling storm was an EF-1 with estimated peak winds of 110 mph, the strongest tornado to hit since 1983. It was also the second tornado to strike Southern California in the last two days.
Los Angeles area struck by rare EF-1 tornado
As a lone thunderstorm moved through Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, calling it an “intense microcell” spawned a tornado that “briefly touched down” in an industrial park and warehouse district in the city of Montebello, CNN reported.
Montebello is located in Los Angeles County, eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
After the storm passed, The National Weather Service immediately dispatched a team to Montebello, where officials later determined the tornado ranked EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale with peak winds of 110 miles per hour. The NWS said the tornado was approximately 50 yards wide and covered four-tenths of a mile, KTLA 5 Los Angeles reported.
Under the Enhanced Fujita Scale – a measure used to determine tornado power and impact – the lowest rating is EF-0, and the highest rating is EF-5.
Massive damage, at least 1 injured
The tornado damaged at least 17 buildings. Eleven of the buildings were so severely damaged that the fire department deemed them too dangerous to use or inhabit, according to Montebello city public information officer Michael Chee, CNN reported.
At least one person was injured, as were several vehicles, according to various reports.
Strongest tornado in 40 years, second in a month
The twister was the strongest to impact the Los Angeles metropolitan area in 40 years, officials said.
The last confirmed tornado in LA County toppled several trees in the Whittier and La Mirada areas in February 2023.
Montebello borders the Whittier Narrows area, known for a massive earthquake in 1987.
Another tornado hit Southern California a day earlier
A day earlier, on Tuesday evening, another tornado struck the small coastal city of Carpinteria, located on California’s central coast, and is noted as having the “world’s safest beach.” Carpinteria sits in the southeastern part of Santa Barbara County, located roughly 84 miles north of Los Angeles.
The National Weather Service also sent a team to Carpinteria, where it rated the twister as a weak EF-0 tornado, the Weather Channel reported.
“Multiple windows were broken, a metal carport was destroyed, and metal roofs were ripped off some of the mobile homes,” the NWS said. “Nearby fencing and trees were downed by the tornado.”
One person was injured, as the twister damaged about 25 mobile homes in the Sandpiper Village mobile home park, as well as caused minor tree damage in a nearby cemetery.
