The Southern California Tornado of 2022

The Southern California Tornado began offshore of Newport Beach, made landfall, and then turned in a strange direction towards Los Angeles. Three other tornadoes were produced as part of the outbreak, which also caused chaos.

Meteorological Synopsis
On June 14, a powerful thunderstorm approached California. The air was extremely disturbed after a cold front had moved in from the Sierra Nevada and the Santa Ana Winds had ravaged the region previously. At 2 pm, a waterspout touched down off of the coast of Balboa Peninsula. The winds grew in intensity, and it destroyed a yacht and killed 15 people. It moved inland, where it struck the Peninsula, destroying homes. It then moved inland with 216 mph winds and destroyed two schools. It began to speed across the ground at 50 mph, chewing up homes and buildings as it went, growing in size to 1.3 miles wide. After 50 minutes, it tore through Los Angeles and Long Beach, where structures up to five stories tall collapsed, bridges were leveled, and ships were sunk. It roped out and dissipated after it struck Beverly Hills. Three other satellite tornadoes surrounded it, an EF3 and two EF1s, also causing devastation.

Aftermath
After the tornado tore through the Californian cities, civil unrest began as people tried to find food. Fires started from gas leaks. Flooding occurred from broken water mains and rainfall. Emergency services were halted. By the time it was over, 15, 628 had been injured and 8,873 were killed.