Tornado, Charlotte
- When
- December 7, 6:20 PM EST to 6:21 PM EST
- Where
- Charlotte County, 22 mi E of Punta Gorda
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.6 mi
- Path width
- 10 yd
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Coordinates
- 26.930, -81.700
Tornado in Florida, December 7, 1996
A short-lived tornado touched down along the north side of rural Florida Highway 74, four miles east of Florida Highway 31 and caused major damage to a prefabricated single story home, removed the roof from a garage and downed a half a dozen trees and several large limbs before it dissipated and moved east.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
A short-lived tornado touched down along the north side of rural Florida Highway 74, four miles east of Florida Highway 31 and caused major damage to a prefabricated single story home, removed the roof from a garage and downed a half a dozen trees and several large limbs before it dissipated and moved east.
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 111 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:19 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Florida, December 7, 1996
- Heavy Snow in New Hampshire, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Winter Storm in Vermont, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Massachusetts, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Coastal Flood in Connecticut, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Flooding in Oregon, December 7 to 10, 1996
- Flood in California, December 7 to 10, 1996
- Heavy Snow in Connecticut, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Winter Storm in New York, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Winter Storm in Vermont, December 7 to 8, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Florida, December 7, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Florida, December 7, 1996
More
Every storm in Florida in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 1996Warnings in Florida, December 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5580103.