Sun Aug 22 2004 16:40:44 ET
The skies in the Los Angeles basin were fair Saturday morning when computers connected to the National Weather service in Oxnard began screaming.
"AT 825 AM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A LARGE AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO 7 MILES SOUTH OF GLENDALE...OR ABOUT NEAR DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH."
An official bulletin issued at 8:39 AM PDT warned residents that a Tornado Warning was in effect until 9:15.
"IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS."
There was hardly a cloud in the sky, but the alert stated in horrifying detail: "THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR PASADENA BY 8:50."
The warning remained on the state's EMERGENCY DIGITAL INFORMATION SERVICE database for 4 minutes, without further comment.
Until:
EDIS-08-21-04 0858 PDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
"PLEASE DISREGARD THE PREVIOUS TORNADO WARNING. NO TORNADO EXISTS."
It's not clear if weather service employees believed they were actually living through a shock scene from this summer's fuss film DAY AFTER TOMORROW, or if the event was simply a computer glitch gone horribly wrong.
But one weather service staffer reached at the Oxnard office hours after the commotion joked how someone there will surely be hiding in a ditch for the misfire.
my Cowboys 
