2012 Los Angeles Tornado

The 2012 Los Angeles Tornado was an extremely rare event that an EF1 tornado that affected the city of Los Angeles on April 22. The tornado was responsible for 4 fatalities including 27 injuries related to the tornado. The total damages rose up to USD $2.1 million. It was also an unprecedented event in which a tornado sturck the Los Angeles county area, despite hundreds of miles away from the tornado alley. The tornado and its aftermath gained widespread national attention for being the first tornado in Los Angeles.

Tornado event
Two days prior to the tornado, an unusual weather phenonemon occurred in the Pacific Ocean whereas an unexplained mass of warm, moist air originated from the Carribean Sea and traveled across Central America, entering the Pacific Ocean. Simultalenously, a mass of cold, dry air from the central Pacific area moved southwest, running into the warm air and began generating disturbed weather. Typical strong wind shear in the Pacific during the spring contributed in creating the tornadoes. Thunderstorms and heavy rainfalls continued on throughout the day of April 21. Early on the morning of April 22, the National Weather Service issued a rare Severe Thunderstorms Warning to the Los Angeles area at 7:30 until 1:00 that afternoon. Approxiametly 42 minutes later, a cloud funnel was reported hanging 5 miles off the coast of Redondo Beach, California at 8:12. The funnel never reached the ground and quickly dissipated afterwards. At 9:25, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the first time ever in Los Angeles, stating the possible risk of one or more tornadoes hitting the area. Because of the idea that tornadoes would never affect Los Angeles or cause any serious problems, the warning was dismissed as a false alarm by many residents.

Nevertheless, there was little time to be prepared as on 9:37, a tornado was seen touching down north of Inglewood. Initally, the tornado remained fairly weak with winds estimated at 70 mph. But the tornado intensified and developed into a full funnel estimated to be 200 yards long. It moved northeast, the typical track for most tornadoes, heading directly towards Downtown Los Angeles. The tornado was seen disabling power lines and blowing away trees as well as causing minor to moderate damages to buildings. The most injuries occurred after panic ensured, prompting people to run into their vechiles and attempt to outrun the tornado. The tornado continued on causing damages before encountering the 110 Freeway. The tornado shifted in a more easterly direction and soon dissipated south of the Los Angeles skyline at 9:54 a.m. Two fatalities resulted from a car crash and one person's body was recovered in an over-turned mobile home. A total of 27 injuries occurred mainly from vechile incidents along the roads, clogging traffic across the city. One elderly person was later reported to have died from his injuries. Damages were estimated at to be $2.1 million. The local and state governments subsequently declared a state of emergency to the Los Angeles county and other affected areas at 10:32. The thunderstorm conditions continued on until the evening, delaying immediate rescue and relief aid.

Preparations and Impact
Based on doppler reports, the tornado top winds were estimated at 110 mph, the high-end of an EF1 in the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Also, most residents were unprepared for the tornado was the warnings issued by the National Weather Service were ignored by many, as tornadoes were never known to affect the Los Angeles area before. The lack of proper preparations threw the people of Los Angeles into panic which afterwards developed into mayhem. Eventually, order was restored by the LAPD and the traffic across the city was cleared 6 hours after the tornado. The news of the tornado spread rapidly across the nation and gained headlines over the next few days. It also set records for being the first tornado in recorded history to hit the Los Angeles area.