Hurricane Dorian is churning out tornadoes, particularly from the most dangerous upper-right quadrant, as a powerful storm like this one can account for as much as 10% of the annual tornadic activity in the United States, The Washington Post reported.
The border between North and South Carolina was a hotspot for tornadoes Thursday as the outer bands of Hurricane Dorian are creating wind shear and spinning off dangerous tornadoes beneath the massive Category 3 cyclone, per the report.
"Spin begets spin," Capital Weather Gang's Andrew Freedman told the Post.
The Storm Prediction Center reports a "high" likelihood of "several tornadoes" Thursday, an unusually bullish tornado forecast.
According to the report, as the rain bands move ashore, the winds in the lower atmosphere slow down as impacts the landscape while the wind above whips along unimpeded, creating wind shear of differing wind speeds and spinning off tornadoes.
The effect is more pronounced in the upper-right quadrant of the storm and generally renders tornadoes from outside the eye wall to about 150 miles from the storm's center in those outer rain bands that carry storm-force winds and rain.
"Closer to the center of a hurricane, tornado-like 'miniswirls' can occur, as well, although their formative processes are quite different," according to Capital Weather Gang's Matthew Cappucci. "These tend to be smaller and weaker but can cause extreme damage when embedded in already-screaming eyewall background flow.
"Additional whirlwinds called 'tornado-like vortices' and 'roll vortices' can compound the extreme damage in the eyewall."
Some of the most-active Hurricanes for tornadoes were, according to the Post: Ivan in 2004 (117) from Florida to Maryland; Frances in 2004 (103); And in 1967, Hurricane Beulah (115).
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.