Very unusual weather for California

I'll have to do this in two stages because the other article I wanted to quote from is on another computer here in the house. However, this is today Wednesday January 20th 2010
on the northern California Coast(although some might argue it is the Central Coast of California. However, for me, everything north of San Luis Obispo is Northern California. To each his or her own.

This quote is from a northern California area newspaper
SAN JOSE — The National Weather Service issued a rare tornado warning for Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties this afternoon.

The warning, which expired at 2:30 p.m., was issued after radar readings indicated that a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was moving northeast through the area at 35 mph. The storm was expected to produce hail, according to the weather service.

In the event of a tornado, residents should seek shelter in an interior hallway or room, such as a closet, in a basement or on the lowest level of a building and stay away from windows.

A high wind warning is currently in effect in San Joaquin County. end newsquote

My son called me to tell me that he had never seen a rainstorm do what this one was doing in Southern California. His comment was, "This storm is Insane!"

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rains20-2010jan20,0,7577900.story

This above webpage happened yesterday. The only reason I didn't share it then was that the storms had taken away our power, cable tv and our cable modem and router. So even with a gas generator going I couldn't get online at my home.

quote from above newstory from latimes.com
The second of four rainstorms forecast for Southern California pummeled the coast this afternoon, with gale-force winds and at least one tornado lifting boats in Orange County 30 to 50 feet, causing serious flooding across the region and promoting a new round of evacuations. end quote.

begin quote:
The National Weather Service recorded at least one tornado, four waterspouts and gale-force winds of up to 80 mph as the fast-moving storm swept through the basin. Some witnesses thought they spotted tornadoes in Costa Mesa and Goleta.

Lightning struck the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington, sparking a small fire in one of the stacks. Wind swept through Costa Mesa, and took chunks of several buildings with it.

"It touched down on the building across from us and ripped off the paper and insulation and flung it into the street, landed into our building and ripped the skylight off," said Charlie Rose, 29, publisher of an independent music magazine L.A. Record, whose office is at Whittier Avenue and 17th Street.

At Peter's Landing Marina in Huntington Harbour, manager Scott Seaton watched through the window as a "cyclone" came over the building and touched down in the marina. At one point, Seaton watched it pick up a 40-foot catamaran, twirl it several feet in the air, then drop it on top of another boat.
end quote.


Where I live on the Northern California Coast we have had our power, cable tv and cable modem for the internet out 3 times since Monday for a total of about 48 hours off so far. More rain and falling trees from the wind and rain are still coming all over California. It definitely feels like an El Nino year with the continued flooding in some areas. In Southern California it is the mud and flooding there. We have had two large pine trees go down and block two roads within a few blocks of where we live and both took down a power, cable and telephone line with them. Luckily there were alternate routes out of the area so no one was trapped inside with their cars and trucks. Almost every year where I live when the wind gets above 30 mph on the coast trees go down and branches go down. This year it is worse, however, because the storms are very unusual so far. Higher winds coming in bands where it will be sunny and then a band of rain will come that reminds me of when I lived in Hawaii. If you have ever lived in a tropical environment you can be in the rain about one second and be drenched. It was like this here also, only with 1/4 inch hail and lightning sometimes with it. It took down at least one of our trees but it didn't do any damage to the house or fences luckily.

Right now, today there have been 20 foot waves nearby and I have seen 10 foot waves within one mile of my house. Yesterday, I saw 2 surfers surf 15 to 20 foot waves a few miles from where I live. It has definitely been spectacular surf wise except it is causing serious erosion of beaches and some roads have been closed so people don't get hit with waves, rocks and ocean debris. Some years I have seen seaweed on people's porches but that is rare that the ocean throws it that far.

In the second article that I found yesterday, there is a mention of the winds ripping off skylights. This is usually caused by an open flue in your fireplace I found. I had the same experience where our kitchen skylight was sucked off and we came home to a waterfall in our kitchen one year from the open skylight hole. So I got up on the roof in a storm thinking I was going to put a tarp over the hole to keep the water out. However, here was the whole skylight sitting right next to the hole intact and the glass hadn't even broken. So I just put it in place in about 40 mph winds but it was pretty dangerous and I fastened it temporarily in place until the rain stopped and I could fix it properly with more safety.