Did a tornado touch down in L.A. County? Weather Service investigates

The National Weather Service (NWS) is sending a survey team to a Los Angeles County neighborhood after a tornado possibly touched down Thursday morning.

A resident on the 9500 block of Glencannon Drive in Pico Rivera contacted KTLA saying a tornado had struck around 3:15 a.m.

“There are big pine trees that have been uprooted and landed on cars. There is downed power lines and a water main break and flooding the street,” viewer Carol said.

The NWS has not confirmed whether the damage was caused by a tornado but is going to investigate.

“We are hearing reports of a possible tornado around 315 am this morning near Pico Rivera. @NWSLosAngeles will be sending a storm survey team later this morning to survey the damage that took place,” the agency posted on X.

KTLA Meteorologist Henry DiCarlo talked about some of the things that weather officials will be looking for.

“It’s going to be a few hours … They’ll look at the damage and they’ll look at the path of the damage and then they can determine whether it was just a downburst or if it was a tornado that had vortexing,” Henry said. “We don’t get tornadoes too often but all 50 states can get tornadoes.”

The investigation comes as Southern California was pounded with heavy rain and gusty winds Thursday morning.

The powerful winter storm is expected to bring about an inch and a half of rain to the Los Angeles County coasts and valleys by the time the front moves out later Thursday morning. Three to four inches could fall in the foothill and mountain areas.