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Subject : L4) What parts of a tropical cyclone are most favored for tornado formation?

Contributed by Bill McCaul (USRA)

In the northern hemisphere, the right-front quadrant (relative to TC motion) of recurving TCs is strongly favored. In the southern hemisphere, the left-front quadrant presumably is favored, although there is little research on this point. Most of the tornadoes form in outer rainbands some 50-300 miles from the TC center, but some have been documented to occur in the inner core, or even in the TC eyewall (Novlan and Gray, 1974; McCaul, 1991).


Last updated October 4, 2006

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