| This part explained why there may have been so many. Why so many tornadoes with this hurricane: Tornadoes are quite common in outer rainbands of landfalling tropical storms and hurricanes, as well as with remnants of former storms well inland. All you need are the right ingredients, which Milton had in spades. As the outbreak was unfolding, temperatures in the southern Florida Peninsula soared to near 90 degrees, with oppressive humidity indicated by surface dew points as high as the upper 70s. The change in wind speed and direction with height, known as wind shear, was also strong, providing the horizontal spin needed for thunderstorm updrafts to tilt and stretch vertically. Another factor that may have contributed to this outbreak was Milton's almost west-to-east path, unusual for Florida hurricanes. That appeared to have pulled drier air aloft eastward into the southern half of the peninsula, cutting down rainfall and rain-cooled air on Milton's southern half and increasing the instability for severe thunderstorms. Discrete supercell thunderstorms popped early in the day in southern Florida, followed by a line of discrete supercells in the most pronounced eastern outer rainband of Milton. I didn't pay attention to the rainfall forecast in Milton, so I don't know how well that was forecast, and the tornadoes too much for that matter. But obviously given the number, and intensity, I think that had to catch a lot of people off-guard. I'm guilty too of thinking that often they aren't as powerful as ones in the Midwest for example. And a lot of times they aren't, but in the future there are going to be worse outbreaks sometimes, with more powerful ones. And even weaker tornadoes are still dangerous of course and are especially a threat to mobile homes and manufactured homes which we do have a lot of in Florida. |