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Moreno Valley/Perris Tornado - May 22, 2008
Severe thunderstorms triggered by an anomolous late Spring, upper low pressure system pounded a wide area of Southern California on Thursday, May 22, 2008. Lightning, marble sized hail, and intense rain pounded the Santa Ana Mtns, San Gabriel Valley, and Inland Empire. A supercell thunderstorm over Moreno Valley and Perris spawned an
EF-2 rated tornado that flipped railroad cars and a big rig along I-215 near March Air Base around 4:45pm.
The following is the official public statement released by NWS San Diego:
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PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
350 PM PDT MON JUN 30 2008
...MAY 22 MORENO VALLEY TORNADO RATED AN EF-2...
...FIRST EF-2 TORNADO IN CALIFORNIA...
THE NWS HAS COMPLETED A SURVEY OF DAMAGE RESULTING FROM THE TORNADO THAT MOVED FROM MARCH AIR RESERVE (ARB)
BASE IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY TO MORENO VALLEY ON MAY 22, 2008. THE TORNADO HAS BEEN GIVEN A PRELIMINARY RATING OF EF-2
ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE (EF SCALE). WINDS WERE ESTIMATED TO BE 115 TO 120 MPH. THE TORNADO BEGAN AROUND 4:42 PM
ON MARCH ARB AND ENDED AROUND 5:03 PM 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MARCH ARB, NEAR MORENO VALLEY. THE TORNADO WAS 100
YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST AND WAS ON THE GROUND FOR THREE MILES. MOST NOTEWORTHY DAMAGE WAS DONE AS THE TORNADO
MOVED ACROSS INTERSTATE 215 IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY. HERE THE TORNADO LIFTED A TRACTOR-TRAILER RIG AND BLEW OVER 9 CARS
ON RALROAD TRACKS ADJACENT TO THE INTERSTATE. WIND ENGINEERS INDICATED THE DAMAGE WAS CONSISTENT WITH EF-2 WINDS.
THIS IS THE FIRST TORNADO TO BE RATED EF-2 IN CALIFORNIA SINCE THE EF SCALE WAS PUT IN PLACE IN FEBRUARY, 2007. THE LAST
TORNADO TO RECEIVE AN F2 RATING IN CALIFORNIA (UNDER THE OLD F-SCALE FORMERLY USED TO RATE TORNADO INTENSITY)
OCCURRED IN SUNNYVALE MAY 5, 1998.
JIM PURPURA
METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE
SAN DIEGO
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Perris tornado in the Media
Official NWS Public Statement
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