In the image above, Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna monitors the unfolding severe weather situation on the AccuWeather For Business Portal. The school district relies heavily on this software and the SkyGuard service to inform actions taken to ensure the safety of students and staff during inclement weather common to northern Florida.
On January 27, a severe thunderstorm spun up 2 EF-1 tornadoes that passed just southwest of Tallahassee affecting several AccuWeather For Business clients.
“Typically, tornadoes are seen as a Spring and Summer threat across the United States, however, early season tornadoes are not uncommon in Florida, which is why businesses should be prepared for severe weather throughout the year,” said Tyler Dewvall, an AccuWeather For Business Senior Meteorologist.
Power outages, downed trees, road closures and building damage were caused by this storm, including damage to the international airport.
An airplane at the Tallahassee International Airport was flipped over as the tornado-warned storm moved through on Wednesday. (Twitter/City of Tallahassee)
AccuWeather For Business meteorologists first issued a SkyGuard warning for the tornado around Fort Braden at 11:01 a.m. ET, 19 minutes prior to public warnings. It approached an elementary school 11:23 a.m. ET, which means that location had 22 minutes of advance warning to safely shelter students and staff, prevent injuries and secure loose equipment. Relying solely on public warnings would have given them only 3 minutes to prepare.
A second SkyGuard tornado warning was issued at 11:21 a.m. ET and came within less than a half mile of another local elementary school. As a SkyGuard client, this school received 26 minutes of advance warning.
The second tornado also came within 1.74 miles of a local university and 1.2 miles from a park and recreation center - both AccuWeather For Business clients who had over 20 minutes of extra time to prepare.
Radar is a critical tool used by meteorologists when severe weather strikes. As a thunderstorm develops, strengthens and begins to rotate, a hook shape can appear on the edge of the storm on radar. As the storm intensifies, the hook can become very prominent in the area of the storm that can spawn a tornado. Its rotation can also be measured using radar, with green showing the wind blowing towards the radar and red showing the wind blowing away from it.
Radar can even show when there is a tornado on the ground that is lofting debris in the air. As a tornado touches down and strengthens, it lifts objects and debris off the ground and lofts them up into the atmosphere. With extremely strong twisters, some objects can be tens of thousands of feet above the ground. The cluster of airborne debris around a tornado is sometimes referred to as a "debris ball."
More than just a debris ball needs to appear on radar for a tornado to be radar-confirmed. Another crucial piece of information is how close it appears to the rotation of the storm. If the radar shows a strong area of rotation and a debris ball in the same area, it is a strong signature that there is a tornado occurring.
This is referred to as a "tornado debris signature," meaning the radar is able to differentiate debris from rain, hail and other weather elements and how meteorologists determine where there is a radar-confirmed tornado.