Can a tornado hit areas near a mountain?

Question

I live in the Inland Empire in Murrieta, California. There was a tornado about 10 minutes away and my hubby said that tornadoes only hit flat land, and we live in between mountains, so it would never hit where we live- IS THAT TRUE????

Answer 1

Mountains generate a lot of turbulence - which is really just wind moving in a lot of different directions at once.  So the sustained flow characteristics that are involved in the creation and maintenance of a cyclonic flow are far less likely to occur in mountainous areas.  Note: that's "less likely", not "impossible".

Answer 2

as far as I know, they can happen anywhere where conditions are in favor of it. They're just more common on flat land.