Blizzard, snowi-cane, superstorm -- call it whatever you want, but 19 years ago this week one of the most powerful storms of the twentieth century struck the eastern half of the country. The storm brought a range of weather conditions: from more than four feet of snow to the mountains of West Virginia to storm surge usually only scene during tropical cyclones to the eastern Gulf coast. In all, the storm was responsible for 310 deaths and affected some 40% of the United States' population.

The worst of the weather rolled through central Florida late on the night of March 12th and early on March 13th as low pressure intensified over the northeast Gulf of Mexico. With a tremendous amount of upper level energy and moisture involved, an incredibly strong line of thunderstorms moved through the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Florida peninsula. With the strong, onshore, westerly wind, storm surge of 6-12 feet pounded Florida's west coast while the line of fast moving thunderstorms -- called a derecho -- produced wind gusts to around 100 mph across parts of the state!

Here in central Florida, three tornadoes were even spawned as the front moved through in the wee hours of March 13, 1993. Two were F2 tornadoes: one (12:30 am) carving a 30 mile track from Lake County to Seminole County (Altamonte Springs) and another (12:20 am) spanning 15 miles across Marion County. A weaker, F0 tornado briefly touched down over Polk County at around 1 AM.

In all, 47 lives were lost in Florida as the storm crossed through the Sunshine State.

Fortunately, much more benign weather awaits us this week across central Florida. We'll have much lighter wind (so, calmer seas) and temperatures in the low 80s the next few days. The only chance of rain we have is Wednesday as a weak trough moves in from the Bahamas -- no better than a 20% chance of rain, mainly across our western counties.

Have a great night.

Brian Monahan