Wicked Stormy Day in Florida

Yeah, OK, it was much warmer in Florida today than in the frigid Northeast, but that doesn't mean it was particularly pleasant down there.

@KWGregGerwin posted this view of a
shelf cloud in Key West, Fla. today.  

A strong storm system came off the Gulf of Mexico and really hammered the southern half of the Florida pennisula with severe thunderstorms and even a few tornados.

As of 6 p.m. there were three reports of tornados in Florida. Luckily, none of them were incredibly strong.

Also, some thunderstorms produced winds of over 60 mph. Not to mention dangerous lightning, torrential downpours and dramatic clouds.

Things are settling down now. But this is just the beginning of severe thunderstorm and tornado season.

Despite some horrific tornados in 2013 (Moore and El Reno, Oklahoma in May, Washington, Illinois in November, for instance) the number of tornadoes last year was abnormally low.

There's no telling what this year will bring. On the bright side, there's no sign of a lot of tornadoes coming along over the next few days.

A funnel cloud over Tampa Bay today.  

I grabbed this still from a web cam video of very
strong winds sweeping Marco Island, Florida as
a "bow echo" squall line came ashore from the Gulf of Mexico.