2/27/10 REPORTS: CA

[Christopher Jacobs]

I chased Southern California beaches today for waterspouts. I checked data and saw that numerous cells were approaching offshore, associated with a strong, cold low pressure center. I drove down to Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach and watched as an intensifying storm approached. As it got closer, I noticed a small cone like feature on its flank. I grabbed several shots as it lightly twisted, never coming close to touching down. I lost sight of it shortly after it moved ashore. The storm itself then moved in, resulting in some heavy rain and small hail.


Storm intensifies and moves toward my location. Huntington Beach, approximately 3:30 PM


Funnel appears on flank of storm




Funnel moves inland


Closer look, cropped from first funnel image

This all happened not too long after the Tsunami hit the west coast, well, if you want to call it that. It was noticable as a tidal fluctuation in some spots. I did not notice anything while I was at the beach, other than all the lifeguards keeping an eye on everybody. An even more rare event than a funnel cloud in Southern California...all happening in one day.

 

[Will Wilkens]

I was on this same storm. I was parked along PCH at the Santa Ana River bridge just south of Brookhurst observing the tsunami ebbing into the inlet earlier about 12:30pm. I watched this same storm cell evolve offshore over Catalina Island and head towards shore around 3pm. At about 3:20 pm I observed a waterspout form just offshore of Huntington Beach to my northwest and videod its full life cycle. It lasted 8 minutes.

2 minutes later I observed the same funnel that Christopher saw and the following is my picture, showing it moving directly over downtown Huntington Beach, at approximately 3:35pm.

A fun day indeed.

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Heres my contribution

I spotted this possible funnel cloud off the coast in San Diego. It was really hard to tell if it was rotating and by the time I got to a safe spot to film, it had dissipated. Whatever it was it was definitely different.

I sent these to the NWS and they said conditions were favorable at the time of the spotting however they need to see video to confirm a funnel cloud. None the less I was stoked to see this.

 

[Will Wilkens]

My waterspout and funnel cloud videos for this event have been processed and uploaded to Youtube:

Waterspout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx5mMO3FMIs

Funnel cloud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZCxGLGtr24


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