Diurnal Variability of Tropical Cyclone Tornadoes Strengthens with Increasing Distance from the Coast

This study investigates how the diurnal variability of tropical cyclone (TC) tornadoes changes with increasing distance inland. Multidecadal TC tornado reports and radiosonde data are binned by time relative to local sunset to quantify the diurnal variability of tornadoes and convective-scale environments, respectively. Our results show that there is typically larger diurnal variability for tornadoes with increasing distance from the coast, particularly in the TC outer region. Specifically, an order of magnitude more inland tornadoes occur during the late afternoon than at any time during the night. In contrast, coastal tornadoes occur equally during the day and night, at all TC radii. Consistent with these tornado patterns, TC radiosonde data in inland environments show reduced CAPE, with stronger diurnal variability, compared to the coast. In fact, inland environments are characterized by little to no CAPE immediately after sunset.