February 2, 2007 Central Florida Tornadoes

On February 2, 2007, a Groundhog Day family of tornadoes produced by a powerful supercell thunderstorm tracked across Central Florida during the pre-dawn hours, killing 20 people.

The heaviest damage was concentrated in the counties of Sumter, Lake and Volusia. Hard hit areas included Lady Lake, Lake Mack and Paisley. It was a worst case scenario for forecasters, who could only watch with horror as the mesocyclone that produced the tornado became very intense on their Doppler radar screens.

Watches and warnings were timely, but most of the fatalities occurred in manufactured housing, where residents had little time to move to safe shelter. It is the second deadliest tornado outbreak in the history of Florida. A strong El Nino likely helped to contribute to the outbreak, something that was prophesied in advance by weather forecasters who cited the correlation between the large scale pattern of warming waters in the Pacific and increased stormy weather over Florida.

A Federal State of Emergency was declared in the hardest hit counties. The outbreak provided structural engineers and meteorologists their first chance to use the new Enhanced Fujita Scale. The strongest tornadoes were rated as high end F3 tornadoes. There has never been an F5 tornado in the state of Florida, and only a couple of F4 tornadoes. Florida’s peak tornado season surprisingly occurs during the summer, but their most damaging tornadoes often occur during the late winter and early spring.

– Bill Murray

bill.murray@theweathercompany.com
Follow my weather history tweets on Twitter. I am wxhistorian.

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