Tornado, Okeechobee
- When
- May 12, 9:10 PM EST to 9:15 PM EST
- Where
- Okeechobee County, Okeechobee to 7 mi of Okeechobee
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 20 yd
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Coordinates
- 27.180, -80.920
Tornado in Florida, May 12, 1996
A small F0 tornado touched down on the northwest shore of Lake Okeechobee just east of the Kissimmee River. The tornado moved east northeast for about 200 feet and overturned a travel trailer killing the only occupant.
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
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- 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 MLB wrote it up.
A small F0 tornado touched down on the northwest shore of Lake Okeechobee just east of the Kissimmee River. The tornado moved east northeast for about 200 feet and overturned a travel trailer killing the only occupant. About 60 other trailers and mobile homes received minor damage.
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:09 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Okeechobee | 1996-05-12 | 78 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
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
- Flooding in New York, May 12 to 17, 1996
- Flooding in Vermont, May 12 to 24, 1996
- Winter Weather in Maine, May 12, 1996
- Flooding in New York, May 12 to 24, 1996
- Heat in Alaska, May 12, 1996
- Flash Flood in New Hampshire, May 12, 1996
- Flash Flood in Maine, May 12, 1996
- Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, May 12, 1996
- Hail in Kansas, May 12, 1996
- Flood in Massachusetts, May 12 to 14, 1996
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 12, 1996
- Hail in Oklahoma, May 12, 1996
More
Every storm in Florida in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 1996Warnings in Florida, May 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: 5555353.