Posted March 9, 2005, 1:44 PM.

"They are both technically tornados," said Jim Purpura, of the National Weather Service, referring to the tornados and landspouts.

The tornados that hit Fallbrook, Rainbow and Temecula on February 19th "developed from the cloud layer down," said Purpura. The tornados that hit Lake Elsinore, "called landspouts by some meteorologists, form in a manner similar to a waterspout; that is, from the area below the cloud base upward."

"The distinction is important since the [doppler] radar [used by the National Weather Service] does not typically see below the cloud base, thus little or no warning is possible from the landspout-type tornados."

The Lake Elsinore landspout (actually there were at least two distinct ones reported the afternoon of the 26th) was initially reported to WeatherCurrents as a tornado, and kicked up dust in the area behind Temescal Canyon High School. The landspout was clearly visible from Interstate 15.