Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2006

F2 tornado, Pasco, Florida, December 25, 2006

This F2 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Pasco County on December 25, 2006, touching down at 11:20 AM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2, and did $3.5 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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 mph

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

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
December 25, 2006
Touchdown
11:20 AM EST (16:20 UTC)
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
Property damage
$3.5 million
County
Pasco County
Touchdown point
28.310, -82.330
Lift-off point
28.320, -82.330
Record number
1071

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of thunderstorms ahead of a cold front moved across the eastern Gulf of Mexico and through much of Florida. Doppler radar showed bow echoes with several of the storms.

The tornado hit the Tampa Bay Golf and Country Club which is located a few miles west of San Antonio or about 9.5 miles west southwest of Dade City. Radar showed the tornado occurred on the north side of a small bow echo that was moving to the northeast and caused additional damage north of State Road 52. The tornado caused $3.5 million in damage, two injuries, 101 damaged homes, 21 of which were considered heavily damaged, and 6 destroyed. Most of the damage was rated F0 or F1 on the Fuita tornado scale. However, damage rated as F2 occurred on the 2900 block of Caddyshack Lane. The damage looked like high end F1 damage, but the 1999 home had hurricane straps, a reinforced garage door, and other protective measures making it stronger than the average home.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:23 UTC and running to 18:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
11:23 UTC18:00 UTCTornado WatchTBW
16:06 UTC16:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBW
16:32 UTC17:00 UTCTornado WarningTBW

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

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.

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z

4.3 hours before the tornado, 68 km from the path. December 25, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-12-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 872 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 677 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-12-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 276 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
872 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1633 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
677 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
276 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
288 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
9.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z

7.7 hours after it, 68 km from the path. December 26, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-12-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 18 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 617 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-12-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
151 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Brooksville (Asos) (BKV), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
14:53 UTC7571150° 7 kt1012.9-RA BR
15:53 UTC7471140° 8 kt1012.5RA BR
16:53 UTC6865230° 12 kt191012.5VCTS +RA BR
17:53 UTC6866190° 3 kt1011.5-RA BR

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:20 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
16:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wsw San AntonioPasco, FL*** 2 INJ *** POSSIBLE TORNADO IN THE TAMPA BAY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB AREA NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF INTERSTATE 75 AND STATE ROAD 52. SEVERE DAMAGE TO 15 TO 20 HOMES. 10 UNINHABITABLE. 15 HOMES WITH SLIGHT DAMAGE.
16:25 UTCTORNADO 23 Wsw San AntonioPasco, FL*** 2 INJ *** TORNADO IN THE TAMPA BAY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB AREA NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF INTERSTATE 75 AND STATE ROAD 52. SEVERE DAMAGE TO 15 TO 20 HOMES. 10 UNINHABITABLE. 15 HOMES WITH SLIGHT DAMAGE. PRELIMINARY ASSE
17:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGCenter HillSumter, FLMINOR TO MODERATE ROOF DAMAGE
17:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGWebsterSumter, FLNUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN. CARPORT DESTROYED. ONE MOBILE HOME ROOF DAMAGED.
17:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S WebsterSumter, FLTREES DOWN IN THE TARRYTOWN AREA NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF STATE ROAD 471 AND STATE ROAD 50.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 25, 2006

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 256:30 AM ESTF1Ben Hill, GA11.3100$300,000
December 258:06 AM ESTF2Columbia, FL2.73001
December 2512:20 PM ESTF0Lake, FL0.350$250,000
December 251:22 PM ESTF2Volusia, FL2.8505$2.5 million
December 251:40 PM ESTF2Volusia, FL2.7806$50 million

What this means

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.

Sources

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