Florida, 1997

Tornado and Hail in Florida, July 4, 1997

July 4, 1997 · NWS MLB · 3 events in 1 county or zone

2 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$200,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
3

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.

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Osceola

When
July 4, 4:45 PM EST
Where
Osceola County, Kissimmee
Rating
F1
Path length
0.5 mi
Path width
40 yd
Property damage
$200,000
Coordinates
28.300, -81.400

A small tornado touched down in Kissimmee at the north end of West Lake Toho. The tornado moved east severly damaging 5 homes and producing minor damage to 5 others.

Hail, Osceola

When
July 4, 5:15 PM EST
Where
Osceola County, Kissimmee
Measured
0.75 in hail
Coordinates
28.300, -81.400

Hail, Osceola

When
July 4, 5:30 PM EST
Where
Osceola County, Kissimmee
Measured
0.75 in hail
Coordinates
28.300, -81.400

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.
Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Florida in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 1997Warnings in Florida, July 1997

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: 5617337, 5617338, 5617339.