Hurricane Milton churned out 41 tornadoes - and the count's not over yet

National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed Friday that Hurricane Milton spawned at least 41 tornadoes, but the final total could be even higher once damage surveys are completed.

For more than a week, meteorologists with three weather service regions in Florida have been out in the field, surveying damage from the dozens of powerful tornadoes that stripped off roofs, flipped mobile homes and tossed boats and cars. One tornado killed six people in St. Lucie County.

The twisters tallied so far make Milton, which slammed Florida’s Siesta Key on Oct. 9, one of the more prolific tornado-producing storms on record in the modern era, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. The latest numbers are likely to put Milton in 13^th place for the most tornadoes produced by any hurricane in the U.S. since 1995. But the numbers aren’t yet final.

The Tampa Bay weather service office continues its investigation of damage reports in its region. If they find evidence of one additional tornado, Milton would move into 12th place on the list for most tornadoes, tied with Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.

The most intense winds around Milton's eyewall peaked at 180 mph roughly 24 hours before striking Florida, but the storms in its outer bands began to pummel South Florida more than 16 hours ahead of landfall.

A trio of ingredients would come together to set up perfect conditions for tornado creation, meteorologists told USA TODAY on Friday.

The tornadoes underscore a frequent warning by meteorologists that hurricane impacts can take place far away from the center, said Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist with the weather service in Miami. Milton’s center was still nearly 300 miles southwest of Tampa when the first tornado formed near Florida City, about 180 miles southeast of Tampa just after 4 a.m.

The 'dirty side' of the storm

Dry air, instability and wind shear are the three main components for tornadoes, Hadi said. Rotating supercell thunderstorms in Milton's northeast quadrant moved as it approached South Florida at an angle found all three.

The northeastern quadrant is where tornadoes are most likely to occur, said William Ulrich, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service office in Melbourne, Florida. “That’s why we call the eastern side ‘the dirty side.’”

Milton was moving west to east, putting Central and South Florida fully into that dangerous northeast quadrant. Wind shear, in terms of changes in wind direction and speed with height, is greatest there, Ulrich said, but "just because you’re on the northeastern side, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see tornadoes.”

This time all the factors came into play. The appearance of the sun that morning helped “destabilize the atmosphere," Ulrich said, by providing daytime heating that helped produce “vigorous” thunderstorms.

Milton was also interacting with a boundary along a front, which enhanced the shifts in wind direction and speed, giving thunderstorms the tilt needed to form tornadoes and the ability to rotate. Hadi said dry air was wrapping around the southern side of the storm.

How many tornadoes did Hurricane Milton produce?

We may never know for sure. Tornadoes occurred over vast swaths of the Everglades and other rural areas of South Florida, so the ability to do surveys is limited, Hadi said. “We can’t access the swamp, it’s hard to go out there.”

Ultimately, the weather service in Miami reported 15 tornadoes, a record for the most tornadoes in the region in a single day, Hadi said. The previous record was seven. The office also set a record for the most tornado warnings in a day at 55, he said.

At least two of the tornadoes in the Miami region crossed over into the Melbourne weather service region, where meteorologists have counted a total of 19 tornadoes, including the two from the south, Ulrich said. That’s also a single-day record for the 35-year history of the Melbourne office.

The weather service office for the Tampa Bay region, based in Ruskin, had tallied nine hurricanes by Friday evening.

“There are a couple of additional locations that we have not yet been able to get to for possible tornadoes,” said meteorologist Jennifer Hubbard. “We are planning on going out on Monday and Tuesday as well.”

Tornado-producing hurricanes

Since 1995 and the advent of Doppler radar, hurricanes and tropical storms have spawned more than 1,700 tornadoes, according to Roger Edwards, a lead forecaster at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center who specializes in tornadoes.

Milton is the second prolific tornado producer this year. Beryl spawned an estimated 65 tornadoes after making landfall along the Texas coast in July, Edwards previously told USA TODAY, and is expected to become fifth on the list for the most tornadoes after a final analysis of the 2024 season.

Highest tornado-producing hurricanes and tropical storms – 1995-2023

Hurricane winds and tornado winds

The Tampa Bay area meteorologists are seeing both wind damage from Milton’s landfall, such as the thrashing of the cover over Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, and tornado wind damage.

To sort out which is which, the weather service first looks at the time the damage occurred, Hubbard said. Then they’ve looked for localized areas with abnormal damage compared to the rest of the neighborhood.

“For instance, in several of the ones we've surveyed so far, there will be one or two homes with significant roof damage, next to homes with more minimal soffit or porch/carport damage, and it occurs from street to street in somewhat of a line,” she said. “We go street to street then along this line looking for a continuation of that higher threshold of damage until we cannot find any more on either end, indicating the start and end point of the (tornado) track.”

Hurricane Milton's most violent tornadoes

Three EF-3 tornadoes were documented in the storm surveys.

The tornado that killed six in the community of Spanish Lakes, traveled more than 21 miles near Fort Pierce and Vero Beach. The tornado, rated an EF-3 at its peak, reached winds of 155 mph,  and destroyed many manufactured homes, the weather service reported. The damage in Spanish Lakes was rated an EF-2 with peak winds of 130 mph, Ulrich said. The twister tossed or flipped more than 20 manufactured homes from their foundations in that community.

In Glades County, west of Lake Okeechobee, a tornado rated an EF-3 had peak winds of 140 mph and traveled 15.46 miles, the weather service said. In Lakeport, the tornado demolished the second stories of well-built homes, moved over a road and destroyed the roofs of 1920s-era homes, lofted and tossed several manufactured homes and travel trailers and flipped a Ford Focus station wagon, according to a report from NWS Miami.

The chassis of one manufactured home was found wrapped around a tree 15-20 feet above ground, while the home’s contents were found 200 yards away. The tornado moved onto the Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation, damaging some traditional chickee huts and demolishing the spectator and dugout areas at a sports complex.

In Palm Beach County, another EF-3 rated tornado reached peak winds of 140 mph and traveled 28.95 miles, the weather service reported.  At one point, in the Avenir community of Palm Beach Gardens, the tornado collapsed a large portion of the roof on a newly constructed Publix supermarket and lifted and moved vehicles more than 100 yards.

Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change and the environment for USA TODAY. She's written about hurricanes, tornadoes and violent weather for more than 30 years. Reach her at [email protected] or @dinahvp.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Milton hurled 41 tornadoes at Florida - and possibly more