Florida-Deadly Tornado Outbreak Sumter,The Villages,N.Smyrna

[Stephanie]

It's just so unusual for this early in the year and also the time of day it occured. It's been on my local news all day as well.

[Opal storm]

My sister lives very close to Lady Lake but fortunately her and the family have been at Disney World all week.She called me today and said they are leaving tomorrow to go back to see if they have a home left.They tried calling the house but they couldn't get through.

This is the worst tornado damage I have ever seen in Florida,looks like something you would see in Oklahoma during the spring time.

[rlltex]

[quote="Stephanie"]It's just so unusual for this early in the year and also the time of day it occured. It's been on my local news all day as well.[/quote]

Statistically that may be true but recent records show quite a few tornadic episodes in this area . In 1998 or 99 42 people were killed in tornadoes near Kissammee (in February). And recently they had tornado damage.

[CrazyC83]

http://www.weather.gov/view/prodsByState.php?state=FL&prodtype=public

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
505 PM EST FRI FEB 2 2007

...TORNADO WITH 140 TO 150 MPH WINDS CONFIRMED IN NORTHEASTERN
SUMTER COUNTY...

one of the tornado's -
click link for rest of report

Yep, low end EF3 (high end F2).

[gatorcane]

It's just so unusual for this early in the year and also the time of day it occured. It's been on my local news all day as well.

If you are referring to Tornadoes in Florida, actually Jan - March are the worst months....

[TampaFl]

Map Of tornado path in The Villages from NWS Ruskin, FL:




Map of tornado path in Lake & Volusha Counties from NWS Melbourne:

[TampaFl]

Preliminary NWS Survey Report from Ruskin:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tbw/html/tbw/TopNewsOfTheDay1.htm


Preliminary NWS Survey Report from Melborune:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/surveys/020207/index.html

[TampaFl]

000
NOUS42 KTBW 022209 CCA
PNSTBW
FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-031200-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
505 PM EST FRI FEB 2 2007

...TORNADO WITH 140 TO 150 MPH WINDS CONFIRMED IN NORTHEASTERN
SUMTER COUNTY...

A PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY STAFF FROM THE NWS OFFICE IN
RUSKIN HAS DETERMINED THAT A TORNADO...CONTAINING WINDS UP TO 150
MPH...CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES FROM NEAR WILDWOOD TO
THE VILLAGES IN NORTHEAST SUMTER COUNTY. THE TRACK BEGAN IN THE
NORTHEAST PORTION OF WILDWOOD AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 301 AND
COUNTY ROAD 462...THEN RACED NORTHEAST FOR 5 MILES BEFORE CONTINUING
INTO THE LAKE COUNTY PORTION OF THE VILLAGES...ONE AND ONE HALF
MILES SOUTH OF COUNTY ROAD 466. THOUGH THE FINAL COUNT OF DAMAGED OR
DESTROYED HOMES...AS WELL AS INSURED DAMAGE...WILL NOT BE KNOWN FOR
SEVERAL DAYS...THE FOLLOWING DETAILS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED FROM THE
TEAM THUS FAR:

INTENSITY...LOW END EF-3 (SCALE 139-167 MPH). TRADITIONAL F-SCALE:
STRONG F-2 (F-2 SCALE RANGES FROM 113 TO 157 MPH). ACTUAL TORNADO
WINDS ESTIMATED AROUND 140-150 MPH. THIS IS ALSO

EVENT TIME...PRELIMINARY ESTIMATION 315 AM EST FRIDAY FEBRUARY 2 AT
THE VILLAGES. FINAL EVENT TIME WILL BE PROVIDED AS MORE DATA BECOME
AVAILABLE.

PATH LENGTH...5 MILES THROUGH SUMTER COUNTY. HOWEVER...THE TORNADO
CONTINUED INTO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY AND SURVEYS ON THAT AREA WILL BE
CONDUCTED OVER THE WEEKEND.

FATALITIES...NO FATALITIES REPORTED.

INJURIES...NO INJURIES REPORTED THUS FAR.

DAMAGES...HUNDREDS OF HOUSES EITHER SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
FINAL COUNT LIKELY TO BE OVER 500 AFTER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
PERSONNEL COMPLETE THEIR DAMAGE SURVEYS. DOLLAR DAMAGE ESTIMATES
WILL BE PROVIDED AFTER LOCAL...STATE...AND FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT STAFF COMPLETE THEIR ASSESSMENTS.

THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AS SOON AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS
AVAILABLE.

THE NEW EF-SCALE WAS DEVELOPED TO BETTER ASSESS WIND SPEEDS
ASSOCIATED WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF STRUCTURAL DAMAGE...FROM
SINGLE-WIDE MOBILE HOMES TO INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS TO FRAMED ONE OR
TWO FAMILY HOMES...AND MANY MORE. THIS SCALE IS CONSIDERED A DAMAGE
SCALE...WHEREAS THE TRADITIONAL FUJITA SCALE (F-SCALE) WAS MORE OF A
WIND SPEED SCALE.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE NEW EF SCALE...PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING
WEBSITE:

HTTP://WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV/EFSCALE

$$

REYNES/GOLDSMITH
NWS TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL

[TampaFl]

Along with all the devestation in Central Fl. some sad news about the loss of 18 Endangered Whooping Cranes, which comprised the Operation Migration ultralight-led 'Class of 2006' that arrived at the Chassahowitzka NWR in mid January.

http://www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html

[Stephanie]

It's just so unusual for this early in the year and also the time of day it occured. It's been on my local news all day as well.

If you are referring to Tornadoes in Florida, actually Jan - March are the worst months....

I did not know that. I see from what I've been reading above regarding the Kissimee tornado outbreak in 1998 how dangerous it is.

That's so sad about the whooping cranes.

[rxdoc]

000
NWUS52 KMLB 031642
LSRMLB

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1142 AM EST SAT FEB 03 2007

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0348 AM TORNADO 1 SSW FOREST HILLS 28.99N 81.44W
02/02/2007 LAKE FL NWS STORM SURVEY

*** 11 FATAL *** LAKE MACK. SURVEY CREW FOUND HIGH END
EF3 TORNADO DAMAGE AT THIS SITE WITH WINDS ESTIMATED AT
160 TO 165 MPH.

[Lindaloo]

According to TWC, February is not a prime month in Florida for this type of severe weather. I believe Dr. Forbes said that so Steph, you were right.

[Brent]

According to TWC, February is not a prime month in Florida for this type of severe weather. I believe Dr. Forbes said that so Steph, you were right.

That's odd... because if Florida is going to have a bad tornado outbreak, it would be this time of year! It's not unusual at all.

[artist]

living here and being from TX originally we checked when we moved here and it has been said that Jan., Feb., and Mar are usually when tornadoes do strike here. It's because of the cold fronts moving down and hitting the warm air that causes the increased instability. There are water spouts that form often throughout the spring and summer months.

[CrazyC83]

One thing it does seem is that the damage is more widespread in the eastern areas, such as Volusia County. I wonder if that was even a tornado there, and not a derecho that formed (and exited into the Atlantic)?

[ncupsscweather]

One thing it does seem is that the damage is more widespread in the eastern areas, such as Volusia County. I wonder if that was even a tornado there, and not a derecho that formed (and exited into the Atlantic)?

You make an interesting point.

[wxmann_91]

For strong tornadoes, February thru April is the peak season. For tornadoes overall, it's later in spring and in tropical cyclone season.

One thing it does seem is that the damage is more widespread in the eastern areas, such as Volusia County. I wonder if that was even a tornado there, and not a derecho that formed (and exited into the Atlantic)?

Check the radar data. It was clearly not a derecho. The couplet remained very intense in Volusia County, and showed no signs of going linear at all. I have not heard that damage was any more widespread in Volusia County.

[southerngale]

Fox News has been live in DeLand (that's where our admin, Chad lives) today. It may be more unusual for tornadoes in the north at this time of year, but it's not unusual in the deep south.

My prayers go out to everyone affected by this devastating event, particularly those who lost a loved one. I just heard the saddest story on Fox News where a neighbor found a little girl's hand sticking out from under a tree, but they couldn't get her out. The tree had fallen on her bed while she was sleeping, length-wise over her body and crushed her to death.
Her parents were trapped in another part of the house and had to kick down a wall to get out.
I can't even imagine........ my heart breaks for them.

[Orlando_wx]

Well after being under the super cell number five and waking up to it about 5 am and hitting the deck luckily we didn't get hardly any damage from it but from what one of the local mets said here which bothered me a bit he said he expects at least 1 or 2 more tornado outbreaks in central florida before april and also talking about better warning especially at night when most people are sleeping.

John

[HurricaneBill]

Death toll now 20.