On Jan. 26, 2026, Cemetery Park and multiple locals’ homes were struck by something many never thought would appear in their little sunny beach town of Ventura: tornadoes. As Calif. enters the spring season, a storm looms over the North, spiraling its way towards southern Calif., leaving a path of weathered destruction behind as it carves through forests, suburbs and coastlines. This winter storm had warnings in effect until noon on Feb. 24. 

It seems that Earth is compensating for all the days of Californias sunshine and flowers while the rest of the United States shivered in the snow. The storm approached from the North, displaying large storm clouds, heavy snow, intense rainfall and low temperatures. Emergency situations caused by the violent weather have resulted in cases of disappearances. In the San Francisco Bay, 10 skiers went missing in an avalanche. Off the coast of Santa Barbara, a wind surfer got swept away, clinging to a lobster buoy. Luckily, he survived, but not without a scare in the stormy seas. 

Here in Ventura, a tornado destroyed a few local backyards and split a tree dead-center from the leaf to the root of the trunk. The tropical tornado was very shocking to several locals, some unfortunately having to rebuild fences and other backyard structures after waking up to a flurry of weather chaos. In the waters in the channel between Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands, a water spout was seen by local boatsmen. 

What causes storms to occur is a combination of moisture, rising and falling air temperatures and large structures like mountains that air travels up towards. With the layout of Calif.’s mountainous coast and the rapid temperature changes from the South to the North, storms form easily. This year, with drastic temperature changes each week, this storm was able to develop in a more aggressive and dramatic way. 

Temperatures have staggered to the low forties, while some weeks the eighties were reached. During the week of the tornado, average temperatures remained frigidly low for Californians who had to trade in their sandals for boots. However, as the storm passes through, by Feb. 26, we can expect temperatures to rise to back up to around 78 degrees fahrenheit. Southern California’s spring this year appears to be dramatically caught between stormy winter and blazing summer heat.