Tornado Passes Near Walt Disney World
WHOA! Looks like Orlando had a near-miss with a tornado.
Weather.com has the breaking story:
At least one tornado spawned by Tropical Storm Cristobal touched down in the Orlando area Saturday night.
Orange County Fire Rescue said in a twitter post that deputies and fire rescue personnel were clearing power lines and checking on residents around 8:15 p.m. Several power lines were down on the southeast side of the city.
There were reports of damage to residential areas, according to the City of Orlando. The American Red Cross was also responding.
Citizen Reporters: Tornado Hits Orlando
But lots of citizen reporters captured video of the storm on their phones:
BREAKING: Possible tornado spotted southwest of downtown Orlando, near College Park. pic.twitter.com/A4DFAJpkl4
— Joe Kelley (@talkradiojoe) June 6, 2020
Scary moment this evening. I have never seen a tornado in orlando. Lots of damage at the house but everyone is safe 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/JZQBUKwq7v
— Johnny Townsend (@johnnytownsend1) June 7, 2020
Wow! Tornado touchdown in #orlando tonight! #seriousweather #tornado #stormseason #stormchasersHQ #stormchaser pic.twitter.com/mQWahdP9SM
— Matt collis (@matt_golfer) June 7, 2020
A friend sent me this video from earlier at Lake Conway. This is wild and scary!#Orlando #Tornado @TTerryWFTV @WFTV @GWaldenWFTV pic.twitter.com/1UiFU9CNVC
— Christian Bruey (@CBrueyWFTV) June 7, 2020
And our own reporter, Greg Antonelle, who lives in the Orlando area, gave his blow-by-blow of the storm.
MickeyBlog.com Reporting
First, Greg said he got the alert on his phone:
Then, he said:
“First time I ever had to seek shelter. Jumped in [my son] Nick’s arms,” he said. “Just kidding but I was concerned.
“I left the snow in NJ for this.”
#tornado touchdown on my side of Orlando. I just wanna know how come for every severe thunderstorm, my phone screams that amber alert tone for a weathet alert, but when we have an actual tornado and not one tone, beep, chirp or message? pic.twitter.com/em6GNMqG5u
— Random Acts of Back the Blue (@TracyGanci01) June 7, 2020
What “this” consisted of was the leading edge of Tropical Storm Cristobal.
Cristobal Spawned Tornado
The Weather Channel explained:
Several other possible tornadoes were reported across Central Florida as more than a dozen tornado-warned storms spun up across the state, thanks to a large feeder band from Cristobal, weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles said.
The Orlando tornado appeared strong enough to cause damage, but there were no immediate reports of major impacts or injuries. Damage to homes and trees has been reported.
“Usually, tornadoes are weaker and short-lived in tropical systems, but occasionally, they can be stronger like this one may have been,” Belles said. “The reason for this is directly related to one reason why Tropical Storm Cristobal is so ragged looking: wind shear. While tropical storms are weakened by changes in wind by height, tornadoes feed on it.”
KMLB – Super-Res Reflectivity Tilt 1 7:44 PM CDT Super-Res Velocity Tilt 1 7:43 PM CDT #flwx New Tornado warning for the Disney area Windermere and the southwest side of Orange County. pic.twitter.com/Fo9nEh2ACi
— Matt Seplak (@sportsfan702) June 7, 2020
And, Antonelle and his family are fine. But it was scary.
“Within minutes of the warning, the sky darkened and my family and I crammed into a bathroom on the first floor,” he said. “Trees were swaying back and forth, the wind was howling, lightning flashing and the rain was crashing down sideways.
Looked like the inside of a car wash to be honest.”
WEATHER: Footage captures a tornado in Orlando, Florida. https://t.co/PCcFKJtBQg pic.twitter.com/eOsUnUhCQn
— ABC News (@ABC) June 7, 2020