A Rare ‘Twister’ Rips Roofs Off Mobile Homes

A funnel cloud twisted roofs off mobile homes and sent debris swirling into the air on Old Cliffs Road Monday morning but no one among the stunned residents in the San Diego trailer park was hurt.

Residents at of the Allied Gardens mobile home park said they heard a loud noise as the funnel, generated by cold air passing over a layer of warmer air, began skipping through the area about 10:30 a.m.

“We were having our mid-morning coffee break when we heard the noise. I thought it was an empty truck down on Mission Gorge Road that didn’t have any ballast in it,” said Jane McPherson.

“Then right next door, the carport awning buckled and we saw aluminum and steel going. It was so fast, no one knew what was going on,” she said.

Milton McPherson, who had seen funnels at sea while in the Navy, said it was a similar experience except for the dust and grass flying around. “You feel like you are in a vacuum,” he said.

“It was ruthless. You could just see the roofs wiggling a little bit, then they would loosen and come apart.”

Although the occurrence of a funnel cloud is unusual on land here, they are often sighted off the coast, where they form water spouts.

According to National Weather Service forecaster Billy Allen, the cloud was generated when extremely cold, unstable air that arrived with a cold front Sunday passed over a pocket of warm air and set the cloud in a circular motion.

“It was beautiful after it had left the park, all you could see was this big black tunnel heading up Mission Gorge Road toward Santee,” Jane McPherson said.

Most residents of the park are retired, and although carports were bent and aluminum siding was peeled off some mobile homes, McPherson, 78, said no one panicked. “It seems to be a pretty level-headed community,” he said. “I guess we have lived too long.”

Meteorologist Dan Atkin said funnel clouds do not show up on the weather service radar and differ from tornadoes because they are weaker and do not move along the ground.

Allen said he last remembers a funnel causing damage here in 1979, when a one hit the San Diego Sports Arena area and skipped into Old Town and East San Diego with strong winds.