Saludos.
He encontrado algún artículo interesante sobre la situación, apoyado con numerosas imágenes de satelite, que podrían esclarecer algo lo sucedido.
En todo caso se habla de fuerte convección asociada al frente frío que ha barrido la Costa Oeste americana, asociado a su vez a la circulación zonal del Jet Stream, claramente más meridional estos días por aquellos lares.
En concreto, tornados con reportes de hasta 92-93 mph, topes nubosos de hasta -56ºC y 14km de altura, actividad tormentosa intensa y velocidades del Jet en altura de hasta 200kt.
- Animación 1: McIDAS images of the 4-km resolution GOES-11 10.7 µm IR channel data.Strong convective cluster developed just offshore over the Santa Catalina and San Clemente Island area — the GOES-11 IR brightness temperatures of this feature cooled to -53º C (darker orange color enhancement) as it was moving inland around 20:46 UTC (12:46 pm local time).- Imagen 1: These storms were developing in the vicinity of a surface wave that had formed along a strong cold frontal boundary.
- Imagen 2: The 1-km resolution POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature (CTT) product indicated that the coldest CTT value with this storm was -56º C, with the Cloud Top Height showing the maximum cloud tops at a height of 14 km. - Imagen 3: A MODIS 6.7 µm water vapor image with an overlay of CRAS model Level of Maximum Wind isotachs showed that southern California was located beneath the left exit region of a strong upper level jet stream, which likely contributed to strong deep layer wind shear and ageostrophic forcing to aid in the development of the severe thunderstorms.- Animación 2: A sequence of water vapor images from 15 January to 19 January showed that this particular storm was one of a series of strong disturbances that was moving across the Pacific Ocean along a very strong zonal (west to east) jet stream.- Imagen 4: The GFS360 model Level of Maximum Wind isotach field indicated that winds just exceeded 200 knots within the core of the jet stream; however, GOES-11 satellite-derived water vapor winds suggested that speeds were as high as 239 knots along the jet stream axis.