Waterspout, Orange
- When
- May 28, 8:10 AM PST to 8:15 AM PST
- Where
- Orange County, 5 mi W of Laguna Beach
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 33.677, -117.776 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Waterspout in California, May 28, 2001
Two brief waterspouts were sighted.
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 SGX wrote it up.
Two brief waterspouts were sighted.
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 San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 7:39 AM PST, 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 28, 7:39 AM PST, 31 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 AM PDT MON MAY 28 2001
...SYNOPSIS...
UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE AND A DEEP MARINE LAYER WILL CONTINUE DRIZZLE
OR LIGHT RAIN WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING...BECOMING PARTLY
CLOUDY THIS AFTERNOON. FAIR BUT BREEZY IN THE DESERTS. BUILDING HIGH
PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BRING WARMER WEATHER TUESDAY THROUGH MID WEEK WITH
LESS EXTENSIVE NIGHT AND MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS. COOLER AGAIN WITH
AN INCREASING MARINE LAYER TOWARD THE WEEKEND AS UPPER LEVEL LOW
PRESSURE MOVES IN FROM THE PACIFIC.
...DISCUSSION...
LOW CLOUDS WERE UP TO AND OVER SOME OF THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN SLOPES THIS
AM WITH LOTS OF DRIZZLE AND LIGHT RAIN. MOSTLY CLEAR EAST OF THE
MOUNTAINS. 12Z NKX SOUNDING SHOWED A MUCH DEEPER LOW LEVEL MOIST LAYER
WITH AN INVERSION BASED NEAR 5200 FT. HOWEVER...INVERSION WAS WEAKER
THAN 24 HOURS PREVIOUS DUE TO COOLING NEAR 850 MB. STRONG ONSHORE
GRADIENTS WITH 7-8 MB SAN-IPL.
DEPARTING TROUGH TODAY. CONSIDERING DEPTH OF MARINE LAYER AND WEAKENING
INVERSION...WILL PROBABLY HAVE A REVERSE CLEARING PATTERN. E PAC RIDGE
STARTS TO BUILD OVER THE W TUE THROUGH WED FOR A GENERAL WARMING
TREND...ESPECIALLY INLAND VALLEYS/MOUNTAINS/DESERTS. HOWEVER...RIDGE
WILL LOWER AND STRENGTHEN INVERSION WHICH WILL RESULT IN A PERSISTENT
MARINE LAYER WITH LESS INLAND PENETRATION TUE PM/WED AM. LOW CLOUDS WILL
PROBABLY HANG TOUGH NEAR THE IMMEDIATE COAST...ESPECIALLY WED. SURFACE
HI PRESSURE BUILDS IN FAR TO THE N FOR AN OFFSHORE TREND BUT LOCAL
ONSHORE GRADIENTS TO E WILL DOMINATE...ALTHOUGH WEAKER TUE AND THEN
STRENGTHENING WED AFTERNOON IN RESPONSE TO DEVELOPING DESERT THERMAL
LOW. BREEZY AGAIN THIS EVE IN DESERTS...WITH LESS WIND TUE EVE AND THEN
INCREASING AGAIN WED EVE.
LONGER RANGE PROGS INDICATE UPPER RIDGE REMAINS OVER THE W THR~OUGH THU
AND BEGINS TO MOVE E FRI AS PAC TROUGH MOVES ONSHORE. THIS TROUGH WILL
BRING COOLING WITH A DEEPENING MARINE LAYER THIS WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT
WEEK.
SAN 200
.SAN...NONE.
ATKIN
The radar
The Santa Ana Mts radar (KSOX), 20 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:13 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
- Tornadoes and Hail in Colorado, May 28, 2001
- Dense Fog in Florida, May 28, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in New York, May 28, 2001
- Damaging Wind in North Carolina, May 28, 2001
- Flash Flood in Wyoming, May 28, 2001
- Lightning Strike in New Hampshire, May 28, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 28, 2001
- Tornadoes and Hail in Colorado, May 28, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Alabama, May 28, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, May 28, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Texas, May 28, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 28, 2001
More
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5243336.