The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that a tornado touched down in Los Angeles County Thursday morning and said it’s possible another could develop.
“This is a confirmed EF-0 tornado, a high-end EF-0 tornado at 85 mph that moved through Pico Rivera at approximately 3:15 a.m.,” NWS Meteorologist Dr. Ariel Cohen said. “This tornado lasted for approximately two minutes.”
The tornado left a mile-long path of destruction that spanned approximately 80 yards in width when it touched down in the 9500 block of Glencannon Drive.
Viewer Carolina Roberts first alerted KTLA to the twister by sending emails with images and video of the damage early Thursday morning.
“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,” Roberts shared in her email.
Damage is seen in Pico Rivera on March 13, 2025. (KTLA) 
A viewer image shows damage from a possible tornado in Pico Rivera on March 13, 2025. (Carolina Roberts) 
A viewer image shows damage from a possible tornado in Pico Rivera on March 13, 2025. (Carolina Roberts) 
A viewer image shows damage from a possible tornado in Pico Rivera on March 13, 2025. (Carolina Roberts)
The reports prompted the NWS to conduct an investigation. “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 were looking for.
“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.”
Cohen said that the damaging weather may not be over.
“We are still looking at the potential for showers and storms to be capable of producing strong gusty winds, small hail and even at times they couldn’t rule out a couple of funnel clouds and maybe even another small, brief, weak tornado,” Cohen said during the news conference.
Even a small tornado is capable of producing significant damage “as you can see behind me,” the Cohen said while standing in the battered Pico River neighborhood.
The tornado landed 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.
