Scientists: El Niño May Boost Tornadoes

By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The lights flickered as skies spiked with thunder and lightning near Yvette Hicks’ Cape Coral home on Saturday.She went for a candle, but the kitchen window exploded before she could even strike a match. Everything went black.Outside, in the darkness that swallowed her piece of Florida paradise, a classic El Niño-influenced tornado ripped through homes, tipped over cars and toppled an estimated 100 power poles. The brutal EF-2 storm with peak winds of 132 mph lasted seven minutes, damaging 178 structures and destroying one house, according to the National Weather Service. Luckily, no one was killed or seriously injured.Meteorologists began warning even before the end of hurricane season that this year’s brawny El Niño — one of the most potent on record — could spur tornadoes in Florida. In the seven most formidable El Niño years since 1957, 178 tornadoes formed in Florida.”Stronger and longer track tornadoes are more frequent during El Niño,” said David Zierden, Florida’s state climatologist. “The frequency of EF-1 tornadoes or greater is more than twice as likely during a strong El Niño.”An EF-1 tornado has winds between 86 mph and 110 mph.The monster El Niño of 1997-98 set the stage for deadly tornadoes in the Sunshine State that killed 42 people and injured 365, according to the National Climatic Data Center.