The 1997 Miami Tornado (also known as the Great Miami Tornado) was an F1

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

which touched down in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States, on May 12, 1997. It is remembered not for its minor damage, but for its haunting pictures which became the subject of worldwide press attention. The tornado formed around 2:00 PM, initially touching down in the Silver Bluff Estates area. It then swept through

Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...

bypassing the city's skyscrapers. It crossed the

MacArthur Causeway The General Douglas MacArthur Causeway is a six-lane causeway that connects Downtown Miami to South Beach via Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County. The highway is the singular roadway connecting the mainland and beaches to Watson Island and the ba ...

and the

Venetian Causeway The Venetian Causeway crosses Biscayne Bay between Miami on the mainland and Miami Beach on a barrier island in the Miami metropolitan area. The man-made Venetian Islands and non-bridge portions of the causeway were created by materials which ca ...

towards

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

, sideswiping the cruise ship MS ''Sovereign of the Seas''. The tornado lifted from the water halfway through

Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

and touched down briefly again in Miami Beach, flipping over a car and then dissipating. The

Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight a ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

had noted the possibility for tornadoes in the area and warned that there might be more to come. While

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s are often seen as the biggest weather threat to Miami, tornadoes are relatively common in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, although the vast majority of the ones that strike

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

are small, relatively weak F0 or F1 tornadoes. Most of these tornadoes form as either

waterspouts A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water. Some are connected to a cumulus congestus cloud, some to a cumuliform cloud and some to a cumulonimbus cloud. In the com ...

off Biscayne Bay, as part of the frequent afternoon thunderstorms, or spawned from a tropical storm or hurricane. Tornadoes can and have occurred in every month of the year in Miami-Dade County.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miami Tornado F0 and F1 tornadoes Tornadoes of 1997 Tornadoes in Florida 1997 in Florida May 1997 events in the United States

See also

References