Thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes possible ...... in SoCal !!!!

[marmar]

from the LA Times:




The National Weather Service warned Southern California that the most intense in a series of storms will slam into the region before dawn Wednesday.

This storm could bring with it thunderstorms, hail, and even waterspouts and tornadoes along the Southern California coast early Wednesday, forecasters said.

The powerful storm could drop as much as 0.75 to 1.5 inches an hour in places, which could bring flooding not only in foothills and mountains but in neighborhoods all over L.A. County, said Stuart Seto, a specialist for the weather service in Oxnard.

“The ground will be permeated with a lot of rain, and it was a very, slow consistent rain for the past five days,” Seto said. “This is going to be more of a thunderstorm-type rain.

“This thunderstorm activity is very dynamic and intense,” Seto said. He said there’s a possibility of waterspouts along the coast, which become tornadoes if they hit land. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/strongest-storm-yet-could-bring-flooding-tornadoes-hail-and-high-winds-to-la-area.html

[msongs]

1. 5.5 inches of rain in my yard in riverside past 2 days. steady lite/moderate rain tho nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. The flooding in San Diego

has not been this bad since 1993... I expect Tijuana River Valley Evacuations by this afternoon.

And I don't want to think what is going on in the Mexican Side of the border.

Here from local fish wrap

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/21/several-roads-flooded-throughout-county/

[Lucinda]

3. Eeeek. Not good. A lot of wood structures out there

if I remember correctly. I've been gone a while.

Stay safe everyone!

[MadHound]

4. As one who has spent my life in tornado alley,

A few things to do.

First of all, unplug all appliances to prevent them from frying during a lightning strike.

Make sure you have some potable water on hand, in a safe place. Same goes with non-perishable food, a battery powered radio and a flashlight.

If you have a garage, put your car into it. Softball size hail is hell on your bodywork.

If you have a basement, that is the place you want to get into in the event of a tornado. If you don't have a basement, get into the an interior room. The bathroom is preferable since the bathtub is, in most cases, pretty sturdy protection. Whatever your case, insure that you have a large supply of pillows or other such protection to put over yourself to prevent injury. Even a mattress will do in a pinch.

If you live in a trailer, leave, now and find someplace sturdier to stay. Tornadoes think that trailers are Dorito's and they can't eat just one.

If you see the sky turning unusual colors, especially greenish, get the hell someplace safe.

Don't stand out in the storm and watch it. Tornadoes can move very fast and very unpredictably, they can calve, and their snouts can move about while the top remains relatively still. Also, lightning from these storms can arc out almost horizontally and strike miles from the storm.

If you have low clouds overhead and see what looks like elephants' trunks dropping down from the clouds, get thee to a safe place. If you here the sound of a freight train coming towards you, do the same.

Leave a few windows, especially on the south and west, open a crack. It will help equalize pressure and possibly forestall your house from exploding. Tornadoes are extreme, localized low pressure systems, and if you don't equalize the pressure from the outside and inside, well, nature can and will do it for you.

Don't try to outrun a tornado in a straight line in your car. If you are in your car and have a tornado behind you, travel as best and quickly as you can perpindicularly from the travel line of the tornado. Do not, repeat, do not, abandon your car for a ditch. In your car, you've got a metal shell around you to protect you from flying debris. Outside of your car, all you've got is your skin.

Don't rely on the tornado sirens to notify you of what is going on. Most of the time they do work, but the one time they don't, you could be screwed. Keep track of what is going on via radio and TV.

If the threat of a tornado is imminent, crate or leash your animals then. Trying to retrieve a frightened pet with a tornado bearing down on you is dangerous and damn near impossible. Better that they spend a night in a crate than be killed in a tornado.

If tornadoes could strike during the night, sleep in your regular clothes and have your shoes ready to throw on. There is nothing like wandering around after a tornado has hit your house in your PJ's and bare feet. Think of all the glass. A caveat with that however, if the alarm sounds, if you're sleeping in the altogether and can't grab clothes within five seconds, then hit your hidey hole naked. It is better to be alive and nude after a disaster than dead and clothed.

Good luck, everybody in California. You guys are getting hammered with rain, and this will do nothing but add to the disaster. Stay dry, stay safe.

[DBoon]

6. "If you have a basement"

What's a basement?

- Lifelong Southern California Resident

[Xicano]

9. Same here...

Lifelong Southern California Resident, and, no basements.

[MadHound]

11. A hole in the ground that you can jump in to escape a tornado.

I recognize that basements aren't popular outside of tornado alley, that's why I included the advice on getting to an interior room. Make sure that interior room doesn't have windows or is otherwise exposed to flying glass.

[NutmegYankee]

15. We have them in New England too ( not for tornado).

Basements allow you to more efficiently use the footprint of the house by moving the utility stuff down there. Also, they tend to hold their temperature well, so the piping down there is safer from freezing. Mine houses my furnace, the washer and dryer, and the gas and water meters as well as the electrical box and most of the plumbing.

[slackmaster]

20. There has never been a tornado in SoCal stronger than F1 AFAIK

We don't get supercell thunderstorms. I've seen a few bill boads ripped up and an outhouse or three blown over by wind, but never seen structural damage to a house.

We do get strong winds during storms, but never a REAL tornado.

[DBoon]

30. my wife is from Indiana

I have received plenty of advice from her on surviving tornadoes

That's why earthquakes are no big deal to her.

[smirkymonkey]

35. Why don't they build houses w/ basements in tornado alley?

It doesn't seem to make sense. I grew up in New York and New England and I have never been inside a house or an apartment building without one.

[The Straight Story]

12. I found a few people in Ridgecrest, CA that had basements

But they were from the midwest and had them built when the houses were built :)

[Codeine]

22. A few of my friends have little cellars,

but I've yet to see a full-blown basement.

[slackmaster]

23. I know a house in San Diego that has a dug-out basement

I wouldn't count on it not to flood, or collapse.

When I was a kid I knew several families that had bomb shelters.

[Raine]

25. I had a friend in Northern Cal who had a full fledged basement

the only one I've ever seen. My cousin in San Bernardino has a celler, it's an old farmhouse that probably dates to the 1920's. Either one is pretty rare here in Cal.

[XemaSab]

32. You talkin' about the Websters' house in Ukiah?

Yeah, that's about the only basement I can recall seeing here. :P

But I think in that part of the state it's either called a "wine cellar" or a "grow room." :P

[slackmaster]

18. There are no basements to speak of on SoCal, and no tornado sirens

We used to have air raid sirens in San Diego, but they've been gone for about 40 years.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. But now we have tsunami systems

:-)

[Zoigal]

5. Yikes...thought the worst was

over. We're in a lull here in Pedro now...the quiet before storm.
If any of you have ever been in a tornado you'll know what i mean...z

[Xicano]

13. Hey, hello San Pedro neighbor.

:hi:

[WillyT]

7. Here It Comes...

Please stay safe.

:grouphug:

[haele]

8. Ouch, I'm flying out tomorrow to join Laz and his family. If Lindberg doesn't close down.

I wonder what Priceline's deal on returns are if your flight gets cancelled...
Early morning flight, too...dang my boss, could have left on Monday with them.

(If the flight gets cancelled, I might need a negotiator of my own...)
I made a trek eastwards to the Cajonzone to drop Shari off at the vet's kennel, and glad I went that early today, traffic is getting really crazy the later it gets.

Haele

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. This is as bad as the 93 storms

Lindberg did not close. They had delays, but they did not close.

Hell my sis is flying form the TJ airport to Mexico City... again the airport did not close but road access can get interesting.

[slackmaster]

16. I drove from work to Vic's Liquor and Deli for lunch today

Bad mistake. I had to divert around a few road closures and ford one stream to get there. One of my coworkers got stranded at the Fashion Valley mall for more than an hour.

[FreeState]

24. I was going to go to Fashion Valley Mall at lunch

Thinking thats the best time to get some last minute shopping done... looked at the news and it had a picture of the flooded road by the old convention center (it floods every time - they need to rework that road badly). So I stayed at the office and did some online shopping:)

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. I had to go to the bank and it took three hours

Tomorrow I am taking some pictures of my backyard, river crested and it looks impressie.

[Odin2005]

14. Jesus, hail and twisters in LA? Yep, our climate is FUCKED.

[slackmaster]

17. The tornadoes we get here aren't in the same league as the supercell events in the midwest

They're basically waterspouts that come ashore.

[XemaSab]

31. Jesus is coming to LA?

I didn't read THAT in the OP.

[nmbluesky]

19. Whoa!!! That's real??

because I watched movie, Day After Tomorrow...

Tornado , rain, hail destroy in Los Angeles
it's real???

[slackmaster]

21. The biggest problems will probably be flooded streets and mud slides

Hail probably no larger than pea-sized if we get any.

People from most of the country often marvel at what good condition most of the cars are here, because of lack of large hail and no salt on the roads.

[pinboy3niner]

26. EVACS in L.A. and San Diego...

LA evacuations ordered; Calif braces for more rain
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press – 40 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – If six days of pounding rain wasn't enough to dampen holiday spirits, a seventh could prove to be downright dangerous. Forecasters expected heavy rains across California going into Wednesday, and authorities began evacuations late Tuesday as concern grew about potential mudslides in the wildfire-scarred foothills across the southern part of the state.

Officials ordered evacuation of 232 homes in La Canada Flintridge and La Crescenta, foothill suburbs of Los Angeles, because of forecasts of more heavy rains on already saturated mountainsides.

San Diego police evacuated dozens of homes and businesses but no structural damage was reported in the city, said Lt. Andra Brown. A commuter rail station was closed in the city's Sorrento Valley area due to heavy rains. About a dozen homes were evacuated in a cul-de-sac south of downtown.

A mudslide closed one street in the La Jolla area of San Diego.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101222/ap_on_re_us/us_california_storm

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Hmm IT IS as bad as 93

I went to the TJ news... the usual places are on high alert for evacuation and all that.

In '93 people died.

[Kablooie]

33. We've had 10" in the last 4 days. Whee -- glub-glub-glub

[gristy]

34. looks like it's already blown through

[tomm2thumbs]

37. good news

is that Santa up near the top of the map? I swear I saw 'em.

[dkofos]

36. Same as last year.

Get used to it.