Waterspout, Los Angeles
- When
- January 12, 8:49 AM PST
- Where
- Los Angeles County, 5 mi W of (Lax)los Angeles Int
- Reported by
- AIRPLANE PILOT
- Coordinates
- 34.198, -118.261 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Waterspout in California, January 12, 2001
A pilot reported a waterspout 5 miles west of Los Angeles International Airport.
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
- 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.
What happened
The episode as NWS LOX wrote it up.
A pilot reported a waterspout 5 miles west of Los Angeles International Airport.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Los Angeles, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 11, 1:45 PM PST, 19 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 11, 1:45 PM PST, 19 hours 4 minutes before
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</html>The radar
The Santa Ana Mts radar (KSOX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:47 UTC.
Event by event
1 waterspout. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Waterspout
- A tornado over water. One that moves ashore is filed as a tornado from the coastline on.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Rip Current in U.S. Virgin Islands, January 12, 2001
- Dense Fog in Kansas, January 12, 2001
- Dense Fog in Oklahoma, January 12, 2001
- Dense Fog in Wisconsin, January 12, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Indiana, January 12, 2001
- Dense Fog in Texas, January 12, 2001
- Dense Fog in Wisconsin, January 12 to 13, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Kentucky, January 12, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Idaho, January 12, 2001
- Blizzard and High Wind in Alaska, January 12, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Alaska, January 12, 2001
- Winter Storm in Arizona, January 12, 2001
More
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2001
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5227903.