What differences are there in forcasting a tornado and a hurricane?

Answer 1

It ultimately comes down to some fundamental differences between tornadoes and hurricanes. A hurricane is its own large scale, self-sustaining storm system. As such a hurricane usually takes a few days to develop and will last for several days to weeks.

A tornado is a small-scale vortex dependent on a parent thunderstorm, which in turn is usually part of a larger storm system. The whole process of tornado formation takes less than an hour, and the tornado itself can form in seconds. The duration of a tornado is usually measured in minutes. It is not uncommon for a single storm system to spawn multiple tornadoes.

Hurricane forecasts generally start with monitoring clusters of storms that have the potential to become hurricanes in the coming days. Once a system becomes a tropical storm or tropical depression, meteorologists will issue advisories and attempt to forecast the path and intensity of the storm up to five days in the future. Hurricane watches can be issued up to 48 hours in advance and warnings can be issued 36 hours in advance.

Because tornadoes occur on much smaller scales of time and space than hurricanes, they are harder to forecast. Typically, forecasts start with assessing regional risk. Meteorologists see where general conditions are favorable for the formation of tornadoes. In areas that have more than a marginal risk of tornadoes, such forecasts often refer to the potential for an outbreak of tornadoes. When conditions are favorable enough for tornadoes, meteorologists will issue a tornado watch the day that the tornadoes are expected to occur. Such watches outline regions where tornadoes are most likely to occur, but do not make forecasts for particular locations. A tornado warning is issued if a tornado is detected or if there is a storm with a good chance or producing one. The average lead time for a tornado warning is about 15 minutes.