F1 tornado, Wauchula to Avon Park, Florida, March 9, 1998

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F1

Date

March 9, 1998

Touchdown

1:19 AM EST (06:19 UTC)

Path length

15.5 miles (24.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$510,000

Counties

Hardee and Highlands counties

Touchdown point

27.480, -81.650

Lift-off point

27.600, -81.430

Record number

1100

Ground survey indicated that a tornado initially touched down eleven miles east southeast of Wauchula along Steve Roberts Road, two miles west of County Road 671, in rural, semi-wooded swamp and grassland of eastern Hardee county. The tornado produced "F0" damage in the form of downed trees, power poles and mobile home roof damage.The tornado continued to move northeast across rural, semi-wooded swamp and grassland of eastern Hardee county and crossed the county line into extreme northwest Highlands county at 124 AM EST.The tornado reached its maximum F1 strength and width when it touched down in the uncompleted "Sun 'n Lakes" home development on the southwest side of Avon Park. Hundreds of large trees were uprooted or snapped half-way up from the base in the development around 127 AM EST. A few homes received minor roof and structural damage along Columbus Boulevard west of U.S. Highway 27 in the uncompleted "Sun 'n Lakes" subdivision.The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 27 near Lake Glenada and caused minor roof and structural damage to a few homes, commercial buildings and signs.The tornado continued to skip northeast across Lake Lotela and briefly touched down and caused minor roof and structural damage to a few homes and sheds along E. Roberts Road, approximately five miles east of Avon Park. The tornado lifted and dissipated at approximately 135 AM EST.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:17 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.