1/19/10 NOW: CA

[Jason Harris]

Hey, check out the tornado warning for Longbeach:

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* AT 1232 PM PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 16 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF LONG BEACH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

No mention of the Santa Barbara tornado?

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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)

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some of the socal 0-1km helicity is 250/300 not shabby for CA eh? Yet just a scant 250 CAPE on the coast with 500 a bit offshore.

TVS on that storm off shore heading East between Costa Mesa and Laguna Niguel, pointing at Mission Viejo as of now.
*Update, tornado warning just came out for this storm includes straight line winds and hail and tornado possibility.
**waterspout sighted:
AT 121 PM PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO BETWEEN
NEWPORT BEACH AND HUNTINGTON BEACH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. A
WATERSPOUT WAS SIGHTED AT 102 PM MOVING NORTHEAST TOWARD THE COAST.
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.

 

[R R Smith]

I was watching that storm on GR3 as it became tornado warned... it had a decent hook as it approached Long Beach. It kinda broke apart as it made landfall... Bob

 

[Jason Harris]

Nice image there, and apparent tornado report:

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)

So, is it the weak CAPE that didn't result in at least a severe t-storm watch? We've currently still got one t-warning 60 winds plus and one tornado warned with up to 1-inch hail. Looks to be winding down after this, maybe that limited aspect didn't justify a watch though 2 tornado reports so far seems stellar for CA
And the 0-1 SR helicity is quite strong: up to 400 onshore and up to 550 offshore


*Update, central Northern CA is getting more action. Severe-warned storm near Vacaville and Davis petering out, but San Jose and offshore looking peppier than usual (than a typical Jan. day at least)