Storms likely today; small tornado touches down in Dania | Video, weather alerts

Small Tornado Touches Down Near Dania Beach Marina

By Tonya Alanez and Ken Kaye, Sun Sentinel

4:45 a.m. EDT, July 24, 2013

DANIA BEACH?

Expect lots of sun and scattered storms by the afternoon.

South Florida's Wednesday forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with afternoon highs in the upper 80s, overnight readings in the mid 70s and a 40 percent chance of showers and storms.

Thursday's forecast is similar.

Meanwhile, Tuesday's weather produced a small tornado that touched down briefly in the afternoon damaging dinghies and watercraft at a State Road 84 catamaran dealer.

"There was a very quick and apparently a quite weak funnel, which touched down pretty briefly," said meteorologist Robert Molleda, of the National Weather Service in Miami. "This was really minor."

Nobody was injured but the estimated property damage at Power Catamarans of South Florida, located at 2541 West State Road 84, was between $8,000 and $10,000, co-owner Bruce Wade said.

The tornado touched down at about 1 p.m. and in less than a minute caused quite a ruckus, Wade said.

"It was just a regular little thunder storm with some rain and then all hell broke loose," Wade said. "The next thing we know, we have boats flying around the yard."

The force of the tornado picked up three small Livingston catamarans and blew them across the yard, as well as a couple more catamarans on a rack, Wade said.

The gusts also bent up a shade on a boat and pushed a Carolina catamaran into a fence, damaging the engine cover, Wade said.

tealanez@tribune.com, 954-356-4542 or Twitter @talanez

Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-tornado-touchdown-dania-beach-20130723,0,3962074.story?track=rss

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