Waterspout, San Diego
- When
- January 29, 11:05 AM PST to 11:12 AM PST
- Where
- San Diego County, 1 mi W of Encinitas
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Tornado and Waterspout in California, January 29, 1998
Moderate to heavy showers ahead of a cold front spawned a waterspout, which moved onshore at Encinitas. It travelled up "A" Street, before making a left turn, and hit several businesses.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
Moderate to heavy showers ahead of a cold front spawned a waterspout, which moved onshore at Encinitas. It travelled up "A" Street, before making a left turn, and hit several businesses. The twister tossed an 800 pound dumpster across a parking lot, where it slammed into a camper truck, tore the fiberglass roof off of an auto repair shop, ripped down signs, and snapped flag poles.
The radar
The San Diego radar (KNKX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:10 UTC.
Event by event
1 waterspout, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, San Diego
- When
- January 29, 11:12 AM PST to 11:16 AM PST
- Where
- San Diego County, Encinitas
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 40 yd
- Coordinates
- 33.050, -117.300
What these are
- Waterspout
- A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.
- 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
- Storm Surge in Maine, January 29, 1998
- Storm Surge in New Hampshire, January 29, 1998
- Winter Weather in Maryland, January 29, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, January 29, 1998
- Winter Weather in Virginia, January 29, 1998
- Coastal Flood in New York, January 29, 1998
- Flood and Lightning Strike in California, January 29, 1998
- Heavy Snow in California, January 29 to 30, 1998
- Coastal Flood in New Jersey, January 29, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Montana, January 29 to 30, 1998
- Hail in California, January 29, 1998
- High Wind in Hawaii, January 29 to 30, 1998
More
Every storm in California in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 1998Warnings in California, January 1998
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: 5628300, 5628301.