A small -probably F0 or F1- tornado touched down just south of me in Perris California this afternoon, crossing both I-215 and the Santa Fe branch line that runs parallel to the freeway for circa 10 miles.
It only flipped a single tractor-trailer rig over on the freeway, but it also knocked over a string of around ten empty (?) old boxcars that were sitting parked on a siding right across the road.
Interestingly, the boxcars were prevented from falling all the way over by a line of power poles next to the tracks that bent, but did not break, and held the cars up at about a 45 degree angle.
Last heard from, both Santa Fe crews and the Edison boys were on the scene, and there may not be anything interesting to see by tomorrow afternoon when I plan to motorcycle down there and take a peek.
-Pete
P.S. Tornados in southern California? Isn't that supposed to be one of the signs of the apocralypse?