Whats the nature of tornadoes in hurricanes and tropical storms?
Hurricane-spawned tornadoes tend to occur in small, low-topped supercells within the outer bands, NNW through ESE of the center — mainly the northeast quadrant. There, the orientation and speed of the winds create vertical shear profiles somewhat resembling those around classic Great Plains supercells — the shear being in a shallower layer but often stronger. Occasionally a tornado will happen in the inner bands as well, but the large majority still form outside the hurricane force wind zone. Because tornado-producing circulations in hurricane supercells tend to be smaller and shorter-lived than their Midwest counterparts, they are harder to detect on Doppler radar, and more difficult to warn for. But hurricane-spawned tornadoes can still be quite deadly and destructive, as shown by the F3 tornado from Hurricane Andrew at La Place LA (1992, 2 killed) and an F4 tornado at Galveston TX from Hurricane Carla (1961, 8 killed).
