Having lived in Florida from North to South over the past 35 years... Tornado's in any season are rather common. In the Winter season they are predominately in the Northern areas and result from strong fronts moving in from the west and occasionally something popping up from the East. The still rather warm Gulf shoots warmer air North and causes a squall line often hundred of miles long from well into the Gulf up into
Alabama and
Georgia and often into Tennessee and beyond. Last Sunday this occurred and some damage occurred along a wide path from the Florida Panhandle into
Alabama.
Is it something recent? No... been the same way for about 100 years of recorded
weather reporting according to local
weather man.
While the Pacific winds often contribute or deter problematic Florida Weather... how they are correlated to other Global factors is anyones guess.... why not just blame the Federal
Government another easy target.
Being on a boat with tornado activity near by isn't something I care to face again. In both the Atlantic waters off Brevard County and in the Gulf waters off Walton County I've had to try to out flank
water spouts on several occasions and once in each location sisters... fortunately they were sufficient distance away and we were able to avoid them with out any problems other than weak knees and possibly dirty shorts.
While it is often possible to predict higher potential for these occurances... they are often just Thunder Storm predictions that grow into something with little notice possible for someone out for a sail. Keep a weather eye... 360