How long after landfall are TC tornadoes a threat?
Contributed by Bill McCaul and Bart Hagemeyer TC’s may spawn tornadoes from a day or two prior to landfall to up to three days after landfall. Statistics show that most of the tornadoes occur on the day of landfall, or the next day. The most likely time for TC tornadoes is during daylight hours, although they can occur during the night, too (Novlan and Gray 1974, McCaul 1991). Although statistically the largest number of TC tornadoes occurs on the day of TC landfall, some of the biggest and most damaging outbreaks have taken place 1 or 2 days after landfall, as with Beulah in 1967, Danny in 1985, and Beryl in 1994. In the case of Florida, with its peninsular shpe, many of the tornadoes occure as the outer rainbands reach the state, well prior to the landfall of the TC center (Hagemeyer and Hodanish 1995, Hagemeyer 1997).
