A tornado touched down in Montebello late Wednesday morning, damaging several buildings and scattering debris across several city blocks.
It was an unusual weather event in Los Angeles County, as tornadoes are relatively rare in Southern California.
Since 2005, the National Weather Service has recorded only five other tornadoes in Los Angeles County, but Wednesday’s twister in Montebello was actually the second in as many months.
According to NWS, another weak tornado touched down in southeast Los Angeles County, damaging and toppling trees in La Mirada on Feb. 23.
“Radar and environmental condition indicated damage was most likely caused by a non-supercell tornado,” NWS wrote in its report.
Prior to that, on Sept. 9, 2021, a tornado was confirmed near Llano, a small census-designated place located along Highway 138 between the Antelope Valley and Victorville.
The landspout, a weak-grade non-supercell tornado, traveled on a 1.5 mile path and was about 25 feet in width. Video from that twister showed debris being hurled through the air, NWS said.
There was a 7-year gap between that tornado and the previous L.A. County twister. An EF0 tornado touched down in South L.A. on Dec. 12, 2014, damaging several buildings and a steel billboard.
The roof of an apartment building was lifted off into the air and a day care center was damaged, residents said. The tornado lasted less than a minute, according to witnesses. Wind speeds during that weather event were estimated between 65 and 85 mph, the NWS said in its report.
And six years before that, the NWS recorded a tornado touching down near Lancaster on Sept. 1, 2007. The National Oceanic Administration has a record of that incident that says it was reported by a pilot who spotted it southeast of the Lancaster Airport.
According to NWS, since 2005, there have been three tornadoes in Orange County, four tornadoes in Ventura County, six in San Bernardino County and 18 tornadoes of various strength in Riverside County.
Among those Riverside tornadoes, the most powerful touched down near March Air Reserve Base on May 22, 2008. That EF2 tornado lifted a semi-truck more than 30 feet into the air, derailed nine Burlington Northern Santa Fe railcars, and damaged several homes.
The driver of the semi-truck was rescued by first responders with heavy equipment and spent more than a month in the hospital as they recovered from moderate head injuries, NWS said.
That tornado was estimated to be about 75-feet in width and whipped up winds of more than 120 mph.
It was the first EF2 tornado in California since the new scale was implemented in 2007, and the first F2 tornado in California since an F2 twister touched down in Sunnyvale in 1998.
An EF1 tornado that touched down in Riverside County near Mecca was the most expensive twister in recent years, causing more than $18 million in damages.