Tropical Cyclone Tornado Forecasting

In addition to damaging winds, tropical cyclones and hurricanes often bring quick but powerful tornadoes with them. These tornadoes are difficult to predict and may appear very briefly on radar before causing damage. The general rule for anticipating tropical cyclone tornadoes is that they will form in the front-right quadrant of the storm. This means that it is important to know the direction in which the storm is traveling in order to forecast tropical cyclone tornadoes.

The above example is from Hurricane Laura in August of 2020. At the time, a tropical cyclone was moving towards the north-northwest. Notice how the tornado warnings (indicated by the red polygons) are in the right-front quadrant of the tropical cyclone. The velocity signatures of tornadoes may be difficult or even impossible to detect with radar.