It's too bad what happened!
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB31ZN77WE.html
Florida Tornadoes Began In Pacific Ocean
CHRISTINE DELESSIO / Tribune
By NEIL JOHNSON The Tampa Tribune
Published: Dec 27, 2006
TAMPA - Tornadoes are rare during a Florida winter. Even rarer are Florida tornadoes as powerful as those that hit both coasts Monday. Blame it on the El Nino dominating this winter's weather.
During an El Nino, when water in the Pacific Ocean warms a few degrees above normal, winds shift high in the atmosphere and winter storms can bring rain, powerful thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes to Florida.
On Monday, tornadoes hit the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club in Pasco County, the Central Florida cities of DeLand and Leesburg and Daytona Beach on the east coast. The National Weather Service on Tuesday sent meteorologists to investigate additional locations where tornadoes may have hit.
A front expected to move in at the end of this week looks to be the more typical winter pattern, though Anthony Reynes, National Weather Service meteorologist in Ruskin, said it was too far in the future for models to accurately predict what it will bring.
The twisters that hit in Pasco, DeLand and Daytona Beach were potent tornadoes seldom seen in Florida. Winds topped 120 mph, the third most powerful category on a six-level scale that measures tornadoes.
Most Florida tornadoes are small twisters that hit and run quickly during summer thunderstorms, their winds rarely topping 75 mph.
The storms Monday resulted from the confluence of an approaching cold front, an area of low pressure ahead of the front and unseasonably high temperatures that have lingered far into December.
As the cold front moved from the Gulf states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Sunday and Monday, an area of low pressure formed in the central Gulf, towing a dense line of squalls and thunderstorms toward Florida.
The low pressure brought moist winds from the south to mix with warm air over the state and provide fuel for thunderstorms.
The approaching cold front added winds higher in the atmosphere from the west aided by a westerly blowing jet stream miles above the ground.
That combination of winds moving in different directions at different altitudes, called shear, provided the spin to thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes.
"The shear was the key," Reynes said.
The bad weather was no surprise. Forecasters warned as early as Friday that the weekend could see rain, gusty winds and thunderstorms.
By 4 a.m. Monday, much of Florida was under a tornado watch, meaning tornadoes were possible. A tornado warning went up at 11:30 a.m. for the Tampa Bay region.
A few minutes later, a tornado ripped through the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club neighborhood near San Antonio.
"It came fast. It was very, very close to the warning," Reyes said.
The tornado cut a furrow of destruction about 500 feet wide and maybe three-quarters of a mile long, Reynes said. It was over in less than a minute as the twister sped across the ground about 45 mph.
Early Monday afternoon, the squall line with its thunderstorms moved toward the east coast, dropping another tornado near DeLand, then Daytona Beach.
There were no fatalities from the three tornadoes.
On Tuesday, meteorologists inspecting damage near Leesburg said a small, less powerful tornado touched down Monday.
The weather service is also inspecting damage in Sumter County where trees were knocked down and garages damaged about noon Monday, though the agency had not determined tornadoes were the cause, Reynes said.
The holiday cold front's approach across the Gulf of Mexico is typical of what happens when an El Nino shifts the jet stream south across Florida.
That river of air about 7 miles in the atmosphere guides fronts and storms over the Gulf where they gather moisture and warm air.
A typical winter front moves to Florida across the Midwest. The fronts may bring some rain but little chance for tornadoes.
Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (352) 544-5214 or
njohnson@tampatrib.com.
MERRY X_MAS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
