F0 tornado, Huntington Beach, California, February 24, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F0

Date

February 24, 1998

Touchdown

1:30 AM PST (09:30 UTC)

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Orange County

Touchdown point

33.670, -118.000

Lift-off point

33.670, -118.000

Record number

30

A powerful Pacific storm fed by warmer than normal El Nino conditions in the eastern Pacific, slammed into southern California with strong winds, thunderstorms, and very heavy rain. This was the final in a series of heavy storms which pummelled the region this month. In many areas the ground was nearly saturated and some reservoirs were nearing or exceeding their capacity. The two, to locally five inches of rain which ensued, caused widespread flooding and property damage, prompting the President to declare all four counties Federal Disaster Areas. Strong winds gusting over 40 mph at times felled trees, whose support was weakened in the water-logged soils, which snapped utility lines, resulting in sporadic power outages. Snow levels dropped as low as 1400 feet in the high deserts of San Bernardino County and wind gusts to 60 mph knocked out power to thousands. In the mountains, 1 to 2 feet of heavy, wet snow above 6000 feet, snapped tree branches and power lines. Above 7000 feet, 3 to 4 feet of snow fell. In Laguna Beach, two hillsides gave way, sending a river of mud and water through homes and cars. Two men were killed and at least two others injured, and three hundred homes were damaged, 18 of them seriously. In Apple Valley and Hesperia, flooding caused major damage to scores of homes, while hundreds of homes and businesses in other communities suffered minor damage. In Apple Valley alone, two dozen families were evacuated, and damage to public and private property reached $10 million. Parts of 74 roads had to be closed throughout the Victor Valley. Many roads, rail lines, and bridges were damaged or had to be closed for a time, including I-15 through the Cajon Pass. Dangerous swift-water rescues occurred in Colton, Pedley, Canyon Lake, Redlands, Sun City and San Jacinto. In San Diego County, 200 people were evacuated from three mobile home parks in Oceanside, and portions of Camp Pendleton were flooded, due to the raging Loma Alta Creek. Numerous sink holes developed. One near the I-15 and Balboa Avenue in San Diego, measured 550 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 65 feet deep. The San Diego River at Fashion Valley peaked at 15.1 feet at 4:00 am on the twenty-fourth, which is 3.8 feet above flood stage. For the third time this month, low lying roads, golf courses, and parking facilities were inundated. The persistent wet weather damaged the strawberry crop, assorted winter vegetables, citrus and avocado groves, and hurt the flower industry in San Diego County, but losses to dairymen in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties was staggering. Thousands of cows succumbed to the weather. Some drowned, others died of exhaustion and fatigue from struggling through 3 to 4 feet of mud, and many lost calves. Damage estimates to residences, businesses, property, infrastructure, agriculture, and the cost of emergency services, and for clean-up for all four counties exceeded $100 million. While a large percentage of this figure is attributable to this storm, some portion was the result of previous storms this month. The environment that these storms created, helped facilitate the runoff and subsequent flooding which ensued during this final storm of the month. Toward the end of the storm, a small tornado touched down in Huntington Beach at the Villa Huntington Mobile Estates. A carport and children's playroom was ripped up. Flying debris hit a transformer, knocking out power to 200 homes and a portion of a roof settled atop a tree one quarter mile away. Later that morning a waterspout was sighted off of Mission Beach.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:08 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.