Abundant tropical moisture and intense solar heating helped fuel scattered thunderstorms that moved northwest across the Florida Peninsula during the afternoon and early evening hours. One of these storms spun up a brief tornado in Lee County.
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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 episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.
Abundant tropical moisture and intense solar heating helped fuel scattered thunderstorms that moved northwest across the Florida Peninsula during the afternoon and early evening hours. One of these storms spun up a brief tornado in Lee County. Other storms produced severe wind gusts.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 2:09 PM EST, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL 309 PM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016 .SHORT TERM (Tonight-Sunday)... A strong U/L ridge over the central Atlantic will maintain a ridge axis across the southeast U.S. and Florida through Sunday. Surface high pressure will also hold over the forecast area with the ridge axis remaining north of the region which will keep southeast boundary layer flow across west central and southwest Florida. This will act to hold the west coast sea breeze boundary near the coast Sunday afternoon which will be the focus for mid to late afternoon showers and thunderstorms. A TUTT cell will move over the Florida peninsula tonight and will push slowly northwest to the Florida panhandle on Sunday. This will place west central Florida on the east side of the TUTT on Sunday which will allow for an increase in deep layer moisture, increasing instability, with an increase in areal coverage of afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures will continue to run a few degrees above climatic normals. .LONG TERM MID/LONG TERM...(Monday Night through next Saturday)... An upper level ridge builds in across the southeast U.S. through midweek then begins to weaken as an inverted trough aloft moves across the Bahamas WED then FL on THU. Long wave troughiness builds down the eastern seaboard to the FL trough at the end of the work week. This troughiness then begins to shift east during the weekend. Atlantic high pressure ridges westward...across the southeast U.S. coast to the lower Mississippi Valley through THU. The ridge slips into northern FL FRI and central FL SAT with a relaxing pressure gradient. The atmosphere remains moist with PWAT values running from 1.5 to over 2 inches at times. This will support showers and thunderstorms in the scattered...but occasionally numerous...range with some variation day to day. Initially the gradient will be tight enough to limit sea breezes to near the coast...focusing the greatest shower/storms coverage there in the afternoons and early evenings. But as the gradient slackens the sea breezes will be able to push farther inland...with higher shower/storms coverage over the interior. Temperatures will be near normal for the highs while the lows run just above. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions expected next 24 hours. Scattered thunderstorms may impact primarily PIE/TPA/SRQ/LAL late this afternoon/early this evening. Skies will become mostly clear at all terminals after midnight. Better chance of thunderstorms impacting all terminals Sunday afternoon with local MVFR cigs and IFR vsbys. && .MARINE... Surface high pressure will remain over the waters through the period with winds generally less than 15 knots with seas less than 4 feet each day. Main hazard will be mainly nocturnal and early morning scattered thunderstorms which may produce locally gusty winds a rough seas. && .FIRE WEATHER... High dew points across west central and southwest Florida will keep minimum afternoon relative humidity values above critical levels each day. && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... TPA 77 90 78 93 / 20 50 30 50 FMY 76 91 77 92 / 20 50 20 50 GIF 75 92 76 92 / 10 50 10 50 SRQ 76 90 77 92 / 20 50 30 50 BKV 73 92 75 93 / 20 50 30 50 SPG 78 90 79 92 / 20 50 30 50 && .TBW Watches/Warnings/Advisories... FL...None. Gulf waters...None. && SHORT TERM/AVIATION/MARINE/FIRE WEATHER...13/Oglesby MID TERM/LONG TERM/DECISION SUPPORT...09/Rude
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL 445 AM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016 FLZ043-050-052-056-057-061-139-142-148-149-151-155-160-162-165- 239-242-248-249-251-255-260-262-265-GMZ830-836-850-853-856-870- 873-876-140845- SUMTER-PINELLAS-POLK-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-DESOTO-COASTAL LEVY- COASTAL CITRUS-COASTAL HERNANDO-COASTAL PASCO- COASTAL HILLSBOROUGH-COASTAL MANATEE-COASTAL SARASOTA- COASTAL CHARLOTTE-COASTAL LEE-INLAND LEVY-INLAND CITRUS- INLAND HERNANDO-INLAND PASCO-INLAND HILLSBOROUGH-INLAND MANATEE- INLAND SARASOTA-INLAND CHARLOTTE-INLAND LEE-TAMPA BAY WATERS- CHARLOTTE HARBOR AND PINE ISLAND SOUND- COASTAL WATERS FROM TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD FL OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD FL OUT 20 TO 60 NM- 445 AM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ESPECIALLY ALONG AND EAST OF THE INTERSTATE 75 CORRIDOR. THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING STRIKES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. ...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT... A TYPICAL SUMMERTIME PATTERN WILL CONTINUE WITH SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS... LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...AND FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING STRIKES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY. FLEMING
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA / RUSKIN FL
321 PM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016
FLZ160-162-260-132000-
COASTAL SARASOTA FL-COASTAL CHARLOTTE FL-INLAND SARASOTA FL-
321 PM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SARASOTA AND NORTHWESTERN
CHARLOTTE COUNTIES UNTIL 400 PM EDT...
AT 321 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 10
MILES SOUTHWEST OF NORTH PORT...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 20 MPH.
WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
NORTH PORT...LAUREL...GROVE CITY...ROTONDA...PLACIDA...PALM ISLAND...
NOKOMIS...OSCAR SCHERER STATE PARK...SOUTH VENICE...WARM MINERAL
SPRINGS...GULF COVE...EL JOBEAN...VENICE GARDENS AND OSPREY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 10 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 2693 8243 2713 8256 2726 8237 2690 8214
2680 8230
TIME...MOT...LOC 1921Z 143DEG 19KT 2692 8228SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA / RUSKIN FL
413 PM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016
FLZ239-132045-
INLAND LEVY FL-
413 PM EDT SAT AUG 13 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTH CENTRAL LEVY COUNTY UNTIL
445 PM EDT...
AT 412 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR
CHIEFLAND...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.
WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
CHIEFLAND...ANDREWS...MANATTEE ROAD AND FANNING SPRINGS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 10 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 2958 8285 2958 8276 2945 8268 2940 8283
2956 8295 2958 8294 2959 8294 2959 8286
TIME...MOT...LOC 2012Z 145DEG 14KT 2950 8280The Tampa radar (KTBW), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:28 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Broadcast media relayed pictures of a tree that was knocked down on a house and broke through the roof.
The ASOS at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport measured a 53 knot thunderstorm wind gust.
Lee County Emergency Management reported that 4 businesses along Zip Drive and Corporation Circle in Fort Myers sustained damage along a narrow path. Multiple funnel cloud photographs were also taken in the vicinity, hinting that the damage was likely caused by a brief tornado touchdown. Damage was mostly being partially peeled back, and gutters being ripped off of buildings.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2016Warnings in Florida, August 2016
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: 643204, 643201, 643093.