Tornado in California, January 9, 1998

Name: Tornado in California, January 9, 1998
Start: 1998-01-09T14:00
End: 1998-01-09T14:15
Location: California

January 9, 1998 · NWS LOX · 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: 1
Property damage: None recorded
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), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Los Angeles

When: January 9, 2:00 PM PST to 2:15 PM PST
Where: Los Angeles County, Long Beach
Rating: F1
Path length: 1.5 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Coordinates: 33.780, -118.170

A small tornado swept through eastern sections of Long Beach. The tornado developed over Los Altos Park and travelled northeast to Studebaker Road. The most significant damage occurred to a Lucky's Supermarket where a 60 foot by 60 foot section of their roof collapsed. Also...Cubberley Elementary School lost a section of its roof. Other minor damage occurred from fallen trees and power lines. One minor injury was reported.

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 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history The tornado archive for California, 1998 Warnings 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: 5627083.