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Post by erik on Mar 23, 2023 6:12:17 GMT -8
Let it not be said that we haven't had weather here in Southern California this year. Since December 28th, we have been hit by no fewer than thirteen big-time Pacific storms, plus the big Arctic one that hit in late February. And then, this happened yesterday in Montebello, a city just ten miles east of downtown Los Angeles:
The National Weather Service office here in Los Angeles confirmed that, yes, it was an EF-1 (Enhanced Fujita-scale 1) tornado, with winds approaching 110 miles per hour, that hit an industrial park in Montebello. At least seventeen buildings were damaged, eleven of them so badly that they were red-tagged (no entry allowed). Fortunately, only one minor injury was reported when the twister hit; but the damage was obviously very sizable. And if it had hit just a few hundred yards away, it would have hit a residential area, with the damage a hell of lot greater, and a lot of people being injured or even killed.
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Post by eaglemaster on Mar 23, 2023 23:17:00 GMT -8
WOW!!!
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Post by erik on Mar 24, 2023 6:20:33 GMT -8
Yes, quite hair-raising.
It should be said that while tornadoes are exceptionally rare in California, especially when compared to states like Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas at this time of the year, they are not unprecedented. We average seven to ten twisters a year, usually during exceptionally vigorous winter storms when they hit up with the Atmospheric River in the Pacific, as happened here. This was the biggest twister to hit the L.A. metro area since March 1, 1983, when an EF-2 touched down in south L.A., stayed on the ground for 25 minutes, moved northward paralleling the I-110 Freeway towards downtown L.A., and tore the roof off of the Los Angeles Convention Center, causing some $50 million in damage. Nine people were killed, and another thirty people were injured.
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