--- title: How Hurricane Irma Can Create a Tornado description: Hurricane Irma has made landfall in Florida — and weather officials are warning of tornadoes. Here's why that's possible. canonical: https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-10T16:10:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:33:50.527Z article:section: Science og:title: How Hurricane Irma Can Cause Tornadoes og:description: Parts of Florida are under tornado warnings amid Hurricane Irma og:url: https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8a20adcf94742e6/6988dd27cf40a8d517c4951e/gettyimages-845275914.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Powerful Hurricane Irma Slams Into Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Hurricane Irma Can Cause Tornadoes twitter:description: Parts of Florida are under tornado warnings amid Hurricane Irma twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8a20adcf94742e6/6988dd27cf40a8d517c4951e/gettyimages-845275914.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Hurricane Irma Can Cause Tornadoes > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=1ae9d9a2-4f1c-48a1-bd96-0bd0d47ae2b6&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Florida Death Toll from Hurricane Irma Rises to 12 [Watch (HLS stream): Florida Death Toll from Hurricane Irma Rises to 12](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/a1mqjZ3C.m3u8) (1:11)  _Published 2017-09-01. State officials are raising the number of deaths in Florida from Hurricane Irma to 12 from the previous seven. That brings the total death toll in all areas affected by the storm to 55._ by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Sep 10, 2017 4:10 PM UTC by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Sep 10, 2017 4:10 PM UTC As the [powerful and deadly Hurricane Irma](http://time.com/4934867/hurricane-irma-update-forecast-florida/?xid=homepage) makes landfall in [Florida](http://time.com/4934919/this-is-where-hurricane-irma-will-hit/) after causing devastating destruction in the [Caribbean](http://time.com/4934220/hurricane-jose-irma-caribbean-destruction/), forecasters are warning of another related danger: tornadoes. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center [issued](http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/watch/ww0482.html) tornado warnings for a large swath of east-central and southern Florida late Saturday night, affecting cities including Miami. At least one reported tornado has already touched down in Oakland Park, Fla. as of Sunday morning. The warning comes as conditions are ripe for tornadoes within the bands of Hurricane Irma. But how do hurricanes create tornadoes? While tropical cyclones and tornadoes are both vortexes that swirl in the atmosphere, they have different structures, [according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/pages/FAQ/Hurricanes%5Fvs%5Ftornadoes.php) or NOAA. Hurricanes are much larger with multiple storms within them, and they form over oceans or other large bodies of water. Tornadoes are typically the product of single storms and usually form over land, except in the case of some [waterspouts](https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/waterspout.html). However, when a hurricane makes landfall, it can create ideal conditions for tornado formation. As tropical cyclones (like hurricanes) begin to die off, the atmosphere becomes unstable as winds near the surface weaken while higher altitude winds remain strong. That instability, paired with a strong vertical wind shear, can spawn tornadoes. Hurricane-generated tornadoes aren’t much different from other tornadoes. But they are often weaker, according to the National Hurricane Center. They typically do not get stronger than F2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which measures the strength of tornadoes. And tornadoes typically strike a small, concentrated area before dying off. But tornadoes formed by a hurricane can still pose a threat to lives and property, particularly after an area has already been hit with hurricane-force winds, flooding and storm surge. It’s common for tornadoes to form in the wake of a hurricane. “Almost all tropical cyclones making landfall in the United States spawn at least one tornado,” [the NOAA says.](http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/pages/FAQ/Hurricanes%5Fvs%5Ftornadoes.php) Hurricane Ivan has the record for most tornadoes generated by a tropical cyclone (117 in 2004.) Tornadoes also [formed](https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event%5Fkatrina2005tornadoes) as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/"},"headline":"How Hurricane Irma Can Cause Tornadoes","datePublished":"2017-09-10T16:10:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:33:50.527Z","description":"Parts of Florida are under tornado warnings amid Hurricane Irma","url":"https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/","keywords":["weather","onetime","hurricane irma"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8a20adcf94742e6/6988dd27cf40a8d517c4951e/gettyimages-845275914.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Calfas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8a20adcf94742e6/6988dd27cf40a8d517c4951e/gettyimages-845275914.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Powerful Hurricane Irma Slams Into Florida","caption":"Powerful Hurricane Irma Slams Into Florida","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4935142/hurricane-irma-tornado/","name":"How Hurricane Irma Can Cause Tornadoes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Florida Death Toll from Hurricane Irma Rises to 12","description":"State officials are raising the number of deaths in Florida from Hurricane Irma to 12 from the previous seven. 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