Tech Artist

BREAKING: For the FIRST TIME ever, a TORNADO WATCH has been issued in Hawaii! This includes Kauai, Niihau and surrounding coastal waters. Conditions are favorable for a few tornadoes to form in the rain bands associated with Hurricane Lowell. Some of these circulations may move onshore as tornadoes, causing damage. This is the first time a tornado watch has ever been issued for the Aloha State. A *watch* means conditions are favorable. A *warning* will be issued on a more targeted, local level if rotation is detected in a cell approaching one of the islands. For the Contiguous United States, the Storm Prediction Center, headquartered in Norman, Oklahoma, issues all convective (severe thunderstorm/tornado) watches. Outside the Lower 48, it's up to local offices. Tornado watches will probably never be issued in Alaska or Puerto Rico or Guam; this is an absolute first for the agency. In fact, it's so unusual that the automated National Weather Service social media accounts weren't "wired up" to tweet the tornado watch; presumably, it's encoded slightly differently. Tropical cyclones often produce tornadoes because they're large sources of shear, or changing winds with height. That's especally true on the right side of hurricanes. Low-level warm, moist air spiral *into* the hurricane chafes against high-altitude "exhaust," or outflow air, fanning away from the hurricane. Storm cells that grow tall enough to feel those changing winds rotate, and can produce tornadoes and tornadic waterspouts. Stay weather aware!