I was getting ready for the early morning shows in Studio A and I forgot to turn my cell phone down. It rings and I see it is my Mom, who is never up this early. The text says "major winds and heavy rain, it's awful". The following text " the sky is purple and green and lightning everywhere".

I quickly doubled checked a few things and looked in closer and what a wild night. Winds in some cases in Central Florida from Orlando Eastward to Daytona Beach gusted over 60 mph with hail and possibly tornados. At the time a tornado watch remained for another hour and a half. I then added some extra maps in my show for the Floridians in the severe situation.

I must say I think of my mom as a Junior Meteorologist as she loves the weather too and knows very well what is happening. Thunderstorms rock the area daily during summer and of course her and my dad know enough about hurricanes. They are residents of Florida for over 20 years and they both said it was the strongest wind they have felt shake our brick house in a long time.

As reports started to come in at our Weather Plus affiliate WESH 2 in Orlando it painted a horrific site. As of 6am over 100 homes have damage, tractor trailers are flipped over and thousands are without power.

The last two text messages as of 6:30 am "homes in nearby New Smyrna destroyed" & "fatalities in lake city". I texted back to have her stay by the cell for a possible interview.

Watch

All of this created by warm moist air in place and colder air moving in this morning. The key component was most likely the upper level winds which were positioned perfect. The situation: surface winds out of the South and West & Upper level winds strong out of the West. This wind pattern will lead to rotation in many cases.

I was able to get a hold of mom and she is fine and you may get to hear her live on Weather Plus TV - Stay tuned.

Click here for more on the latest reports of storm damage.

-- Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri