A Wake-Up Call

The presence of the jet stream from February through April in Florida can make the spring tornado season deadly. When the jet stream's high-level winds of 100 to 200 mph meet up with both a strong cold front and a line of thunderstorms, they can generate storms called supercells, or mesocyclones. The resulting tornadoes are just as likely to occur after midnight as in the afternoon, making them all the more dangerous because people are asleep and unaware of radio or TV warnings.

Of the more than 200 tornado deaths reported in Florida's history, more than 80 occurred between midnight and 6 a.m., according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. The catastrophic tornadoes that killed 21 Floridians as they spun through Lake, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties on Feb. 2 hit between 3 and 4 a.m.

Every person who died lived in a mobile home, and some are urging the state to spend money to help strengthen older mobile homes built before new manufacturing codes.

The event was not expected to have an impact on the state's insurance market because it was relatively isolated. However, the state insurance market may have had an impact on victims. Newspapers reported some victims had dropped coverage last year after watching their property insurance rates double or triple.

-- Cynthia Barnett