Folks in Seminole County dealt with a Monday morning that will no doubt live in infamy.
An EF-2 tornado tore across a four-mile stretch of land, carving a damage path 300 yards wide. This came as a result of a storm system that moved across the upper Gulf Coast and through Northern Florida through the duration of the day.
As those afflicted by the significant weather event get recovery efforts underway, another system is already looming in the distance slated to arrive in central Florida by the Sunday/Monday timeframe.
Rain and storms are already looking likely.
We’re now back to work in the Pinpoint Weather Center determining if there’s another threat for strong thunderstorms in Central Florida, especially after what was left behind by yesterday’s isolated bouts of powerful weather action.
The Storm Prediction Center has the northern portions of Florida, especially the Florida panhandle, marked for at least a level two risk of severe this far out in advance. Right now according to their charts, we’re pinpointing the day six timeframe for a return of thunderstorms and overall bad weather.
Over the last 24-36 hours, models have also dialed up the possible impacts we could face here in the greater Orlando area. Initially, looking back to the end of last week, most global computer models seemed to think the tail end of the cold front would lose a lot of its power before sliding across the Florida Peninsula.
Especially when looking at the most recent updates from the GFS and European computer models, it seems the latest trend is a more organized resurgence of showers and storms coming through our viewing area before exiting southeast in traditional cold frontal fashion.
These repetitive storm systems ejecting across the Plains and affecting our weather down here is a definitive sign that spring is finally settling in for the United States. The ingredients driving the weather phenomena we experience essentially reverse — it’s all the built up warmth across the land that sets off the thunderstorm activity the moment it interacts with the slightest push of cooler, drier air coming down with these spinning low pressure features.
We’ll close with a look at a positive factor amidst all this wild weather. Coming out of the La Niña winter means we can hopefully do away with the drought conditions that were established at the end of last year and the first two months of 2025.
Our current drought monitor depicts moderate drought conditions for many of us in Central Florida, but each incoming dose of rainfall will help to alleviate this more and more as we go through the next few weeks.
