Home / California / Orange

EF1 tornado in Orange County, California

Tornado January 19, 2010 · Orange County, California

EF1

Rating

4.6 mi

Path length

25 yd

Path width

$500K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado formed off the coast of Sunset Beach in Orange County and moved Northeast. The tornado crossed Pacific Coast Highway just south of Anderson Street at 1257 PST and continued to move Northeast. A parked Ford Explorer was flipped on its side, and two 35 foot catamarans in the Huntington Harbour were lifted out of the water. One was lifted 50 feet in the air before landing on another vessel and a dock piling. The second was flipped over and landed 30 feet from its original position. There were multiple reports of roof damage, and a window in a residential building was blown in. A wind gust of 92 MPH was measured by a mesonet at the Huntington Beach Pier.

The wider storm

The second in a series of powerful winter storms wreaked havoc on Southern California on January 19th. A strong southerly 925 mb jet ahead of the cold front contributed to moderate low-level wind shear. A line of thunderstorms with embedded rotation moved through Orange County late in the morning, bringing waterspouts, at least one tornado, and hurricane force winds. Strong thunderstorm winds also impacted San Diego County, contributing to structural damage and one fatality. Large, steep surf was also observed with this storm in both Orange and San Diego counties.

Began near Seal Beach (33.7160, -118.1250).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 211222. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.