2/27/10 DISC: CA

[William Reid]

Impressive catch(es), guys----congrats!

Apparently there were no "official" tornadoes in the United States during all of February, 2010. As far as I know, the Huntington Beach waterspout of 2/27/10 will not count as a tornado, since there was no confirmed tornadic circulation on land areas----too bad our little California offshore "tornado" doesn't count as the only U.S. tornado during the month!

This brings up a few questions...

If this waterspout/tornado moved over an exposed offshore reef during low tide, would it rise to "official tornado" status and be counted? I suspect that if it touched Santa Catalina or San Clemente Island, then it would be counted. What if the waterspout moved into Newport Harbor, had its way with a bunch of sailboats, was practically surrounded by land, but never came onto land? Would it be counted as a tornado? What if Saturday's waterspout overturned a boat or swept people off of a ship a mile offshore? Would the injuries and/or deaths be counted by Storm Data/SPC? Could we have "tornado" deaths, yet no "official" tornado in the database?

Who gets to decide these things?!

Bill Reid
Westlake Village, CA

 

[Skip Talbot]

People have already been poking into the old debate of how to count and classify waterspouts in other threads in regards to this event. See:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23099

I suspect the call is done on a case by case basis by the local NWSFO. I doubt they'd count it if it hit an exposed reef, but an island yes. I also doubt they would count it if it only hit boats, but again the local offices probably have their own standards. Any injuries or fatalities would probably be counted along with other offshore weather related boating fatalities.