The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed that the violent funnel of swirling winds that ripped through roofs and scattered debris high into the air near downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday was indeed a tornado – and the strongest one the area has seen in more than three decades.
It was the second tornado to touch down in southern California this week in an area unaccustomed to facing that particular kind of extreme weather. “It’s definitely not something that’s common for the region,” said NWS meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld, noting that the last time the weather service’s LA office sent out tornado assessment teams was in 2016.
