Another Tornado Touches Down In LA County

LOS ANGELES, CA — For the second time in less than two months, a tornado touched down in Los Angeles County, partially tearing off rooftops and carving a small path of destruction Thursday.

This time, the twister struck in Carson as part of a late-season storm with unseasonably cool temperatures that dusted parts of the county with snow at low elevations.

The National Weather Service confirmed that a "brief weak tornado" occurred shortly before 9 a.m. in the Carson-Compton area. The small twister was rated an EF0, which is the weakest level of a tornado.

Like a tornado that touched down in Montebello in March, this one damaged cars, ripped apart a couple rooftops and knocked over a tree.

Video from the scene showed at least two buildings along Avalon Boulevard with holes in their rooftops, along with a car that appeared to have been struck by flying debris and one tree knocked to the ground.

There were no reports of any injuries.

A larger tornado struck March 22 in Montebello, damaging 11 buildings so badly they had to be red-tagged. In that tornado in the area of Washington Boulevard and Vail Avenue — a largely industrial district — one person suffered minor injuries.

National Weather Service officials said the March tornado reached 110 mph, earning a rating of EF1. The last time Los Angeles County experienced a twister of that magnitude was in 1983 when an F2 twister struck. Less powerful tornados struck in January 1998 in Long Beach and in 2014 in Inglewood, according to the National Weather Service.

“People feel like we don’t get tornadoes in California, but we do actually get them here,” Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told the Los Angeles Times after March's tornado. “To get a tornado in any one spot is very rare, but to see a few of them a year is not uncommon.”

By mid-morning Thursday, the National Weather Service indicated that the majority of the storm system had already passed through the area, but Los Angeles County "continues to experience widespread shower activity."

"Despite the significant decrease in rain coverage ... shower chances will continue in all areas through the day as the upper low is still overhead and moisture continues to get pulled in off the ocean," according to the NWS. "... Best chances will be in and near the mountains, but all areas will be at risk for additional showers through the day, some of which could be briefly heavy with small hail possible. Isolated thunderstorms are still possible mainly across LA/Ventura counties through (Thursday) afternoon as there is still some instability around."

Much of the rainfall occurred overnight, but scattered showers continued after sunrise and made for a wet morning commute. The NWS even issued a flood advisory overnight that included Los Angeles County, warning of possible small stream and urban flooding.

The chance of showers will linger into Friday for some areas, forecasters said.

A winter weather advisory will be in effect until 5 p.m. Thursday in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, with anticipated snow accompanied by winds of up to 45 mph.

Forecasters said some mountain areas could see 4 to 8 inches of snow at elevations above 6,000 feet, and a chance of accumulations exceeding a foot in some isolated spots before the storm dissipates. Lesser amounts of snow are possible down to 4,000 feet. Forecasters said there was a 30% chance of an inch or more of snow falling over the Grapevine stretch of Interstate 5 in northern Los Angeles County, so motorists should be on alert for possible closures or police escorts.

"Travel could be very difficult to impossible on mountain roadways, such as the Angeles Crest Highway," according to the NWS.

Forecasters said "drier and warmer conditions are expected this weekend into next week."

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.