On
Friday March 12, 1993 a strong low pressure system developed in
the Gulf of Mexico. This low pressure system continued to strengthen
dramatically and moved northeastward into the mid Atlantic coastal
region by Saturday evening, March 13th. Besides producing a record
snowstorm in the eastern United States, this low pressure system
produced an intense squall line with embedded bow echoes ahead
of the system's cold front. The squall line produced a serial
derecho as it swept across the Florida peninsula, Cuba, and adjacent
waters. The squall line reached the northern portion of the west
coast of Florida and western Cuba between 11 PM and midnight EST
on the evening of the 12th. After creating much damage and many
casualties, the storm line passed off the shore of southeastern
Florida about 5 AM EST on the morning of the 13th and pulled out
of central Cuba after sunrise.
As
is shown in Figure 1, much wind damage occurred across Florida
with measured wind gusts reaching a maximum of 96 mph in the Tampa
Bay area. Supercells embedded within the squall line produced
tornadoes in the northern half of the Florida peninsula with some
reaching F2 intensity.
As
the derecho producing squall line raced through Florida, 7 people
were killed and 79 were injured from the strong derecho winds
and embedded tornadoes. The storm system winds blew down many
trees, power poles, and power lines, tore roofs off homes, severely
damaged mobile homes, and overturned large trucks.
As the derecho
was passing through Florida it was also passing through Cuba.
This event resulted in 10 deaths and many injuries in western
and central Cuba. Economic losses in Cuba exceed one billion U.S.
dollars. More information about this derecho storm system in Cuba
can be found in the Figs. 2 and 3 and the associated text below.