Tornado in California, December 21, 1997

Name: Tornado in California, December 21, 1997
Start: 1997-12-21T13:40
End: 1997-12-21T13:45
Location: California

December 21, 1997 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $15,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The Santa Ana Mts radar (KSOX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:38 UTC.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Orange

When: December 21, 1:40 PM PST to 1:45 PM PST
Where: Orange County, Huntington Beach
Rating: F1
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 30 yd
Property damage: $15,000
Coordinates: 33.670, -118.000

Thunderstorms in advance of a strong low pressure trough, spawned a tornado that briefly touched down off of Huntington Beach, and moved onshore, crossing Highway 1, into Huntington Harbor. The twister ripped at least 6 boats from their moorings, damaged trees, ripped a 40-foot metal light pole out of the ground, tossed a 150 pound iron bench into a spa, and ripped a 25 foot section of roof from a home. Damage to the roof alone was estimated at $15,000.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for California, 1997 Warnings in California, December 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5626279.