On Christmas Day 2025, an EF-0 tornado touched down in Boyle Heights, damaging rooftops and even blowing out a few windows of one business.
EF-0 tornado touched down in Boyle Heights on Christmas, NWS confirms
The National Weather Service surveyed the damage and saw it extended about a quarter of a mile, a smaller distance and much less damage than what we see in the Midwest.
However, a pocket of Southern California is oddly similar in some ways and it's through East L.A.
"There are actually some favorite corridors where the frequencies of tornadoes have actually rivaled those across the Midwest in terms of the climatological frequencies over small corridors," said Dr. Ariel Cohen, meteorologist with NWS Oxnard. "These tornadoes are not typically of the same magnitude as the Great Plains in the Midwest at all. We're not talking about the duration, the size, the volatility or the intensity of destruction, but they still occur and they still do create areas of locally enhanced wind damage."
Cohen says the favored corridor includes cities such as Montebello, Compton and Carson. But why East L.A.?
It has to do with the shape of the coastline paralleling that portion of L.A. - particularly how it bends so abruptly between the San Pedro Channel and the Santa Monica Bay.
"The way it bends with a large amount of plain distance, effectively. The coastal plain extends quite a bit inland before you get to the higher terrain, and that can kind of set up a very unique zone where there's a lot more atmospheric spin in place that can be re-formed in a weak thunderstorm or heavy shower."
So if you notice a shift in wind or hear a clap of thunder during strong thunderstorm - particularly in our active season during winter and early spring - it's a good reminder if you live in those areas, and we talk about the possibility of a weak tornado in the forecast, not to be scared, but to heed those warnings.