Parting Shot : 2nd Funnel Cloud in 2 Days Hits O.C. as Storm Heads South

A storm that threatened to dump up to 2 inches of rain on Orange County instead veered toward Tijuana on Tuesday, but only after unleashing at least one towering funnel cloud on the Irvine Spectrum entertainment complex.

The 400-foot mini tornado touched down about 12:45 p.m., lifting up chain-link fencing and heavy lumber and tossing them “like toothpicks” against parked cars near a Spectrum construction site at the junction of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways.

“The wind just took the fence and lifted it, blowing it around the air like a kite tail,” said Lee Henley, a construction worker. “It just came down and wiped us out.”

Henley’s co-worker, Dirk Thiessen, said the crew was lucky no one was hurt. “It picked up the planks and threw them around like toothpicks,” he said. Still, no major damage was reported.

The downpour that was anticipated throughout the rest of the day never appeared, though, as energy high in the jet stream pushed the storm toward Mexico, instead of letting it run its course due east into Orange County.

“It looks like the storm took a severe southeasterly dig,” said meteorologist Jon Erdman of WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times. “A couple of days out, it looked like this system had a bead on the coast. It kind of had other ideas and kept moving.”

Another system could hit Orange County late Thursday or early Friday--or it could veer off like this one did, forecasters said.

“It’s kind of a blow to the ego for us,” Erdman said. “Thankfully for everybody else, it looks like a near miss.”

The rain Orange County did get had at least one positive effect: It prompted an early end to the local fire season. Today, the Orange County Fire Authority will reopen thousands of wilderness acres that were off-limits because of fire hazard.

The appearance of the large funnel cloud (a smaller one hit the Huntington Beach pier area Monday) came on a day that oddly began with an offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 3.0 centered 12 miles south-southwest of Huntington Beach.

Technically, when a funnel cloud strikes the ground, it is a tornado. Witnesses said there may have been a second funnel, but police and weather service experts could not confirm whether it was the same funnel.

Before the jet stream moved the storm away, forecasters had predicted high winds, up to 2 inches of rain inland and up to .75 inches of rain along the coast Tuesday. That, combined with high tides brought the fear of flooding and beach erosion.

Safety officials along the coast were ready for trouble. And with more rain expected later this week, they may yet get it.

The National Weather Service said flooding could be caused by local breakers of 8 to 12 feet on top of a 6.4-foot high tide expected at 7:02 a.m. today. The next high tide is expected to be 4.9 feet at 7:47 p.m.

“We got 6.8-foot [high] tides for Thursday and Friday in the mornings, and we’re going to be standing by all three days,” Seal Beach lifeguard Capt. Steve Cushman said. “We got a big tractor-scraper at the ready for an emergency to quickly push in sand.”

Throughout the county Tuesday, residents hurriedly braced for more rain. Some laid down sandbags while others took advantage of a break in the weather to buy that last-minute merchandise.

“We’ve been getting hammered” with customers, said Sterling Higdon, assistant manager of Home Depot in Anaheim.

In Seal Beach, officials said the storms will not delay today’s planned construction of a dike to keep flood waters back with sand brought in from Palmdale.

Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings said the city is prepared for possible flooding and moved several large tractors at the beach to reinforce it with sand.

“The city is mobilized and the tractors have been out there working on the berm getting ready for whatever comes,” Hastings said. “We’ll be there. I hope the sand comes, and I hope nothing delays it.”

About 115,000 tons of sand will be used to create a 10-foot-high dike as the city works to replace sand constantly washed away by natural forces.

Meanwhile, the storm’s arrival brought an early end to the fire season, which usually closes in December or January.

“The rain we had [Monday] reduced the fire hazard significantly,” said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority.

Fire officials said that the storm, which dropped 0.39 inches on Santa Ana, has reduced the danger of grass and brush fires in the designated closure areas. Private land included in the closed areas remains closed to the public.

However, with dry Santa Ana winds still a possibility, fire officials want the public to be aware of fire danger.

The affected wilderness include large portions of Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park, and O’Neill Regional Park.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Steve Carney and correspondents Frank Messina and Cathy Werblin.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

An Unusual Twist

At least one funnel cloud touched down at Irvine Spectrum, causing minor damage in an area under construction.

Not only does nature abhor a vacuum, it also likes a moderate temperature. Funnel clouds form when unusually cold temperatures in the upper atmosphere interact with warm surface air. How a funnel forms:

1. Column of very cold air (-13 degrees at 30,000) slowly spins counterclockwise

2. Surface air (60 degrees) moves upward along cold air column

3. Warm updraft causes column to stretch and spin faster, forming funnel

Source: WeatherData Inc.; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times

Open Spaces

Significant reduction in the fire hazard has prompted the Orange County Fire Authority to reopen more than 170,000 acres to public access, most of it near Cleveland National Forest and in South County:

(Area reopened)