Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2007

EF1 tornado, (Evb)New Smyrna Beach Airport to Isleboro, Florida, February 2, 2007

From (Evb)New Smyrna Beach Airport to Isleboro, this EF1 tornado ran 3.1 miles across Volusia County on February 2, 2007, touching down at 4:22 AM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $6.0 million of property damage.

The rating scale

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

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF1
Date
February 2, 2007
Touchdown
4:22 AM EST (09:22 UTC)
Lifted
4:27 AM EST (09:27 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
3.1 miles (5.0 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$6.0 million
County
Volusia County
Touchdown point
29.064, -80.989
Lift-off point
29.073, -80.942
Record number
0702020322-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A series of powerful tornadoes swept across Sumter, Lake and Volusia counties during the early morning hours of February 2, 2007. A discontinuous swath of tornado damage was observed from near Wildwood in Sumter County to the town of Lady Lake (Lake County) to New Smyrna Beach (Volusia County). This was a distance of over 70 miles. A total of 21 fatalities occurred within Lake County. Central Florida was located in the warm sector ahead of an advancing cold front. Large scale lift was supported by a very strong jet aloft, with strong vertical shear. Instability increased overnight with temperatures and dew points increasing through the pre-dawn hours. A single long-tracked supercell thunderstorm traveled from Sumter County to the coastal waters of Volusia County during the early morning hours of February 2, 2007. Three tornadoes touched down along this track.

The same mesocyclone that produced the previous tornadoes in Lake and Volusia County now moved over New Smyrna Beach. The F1 tornado first touched down east of Interstate 95 along Turnbull Bay Road and moved rapidly east where it lifted at the Intracoastal Waterway just north of New Smyrna Beach Airport. The tornado damaged roofs, car ports, garage doors and pool screens in the area. There were no injuries reported.

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

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS MLB issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:10 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:37 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:05 UTC and running to 13:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:40 UTC00:14 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLB
05:36 UTC06:15 UTCTornado WarningMLB
06:12 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WarningMLB
07:05 UTC13:00 UTCTornado WatchMLB
08:49 UTC09:15 UTCTornado WarningMLB
09:10 UTC09:37 UTCTornado WarningMLB
10:18 UTC11:00 UTCTornado WarningMLB
11:07 UTC11:36 UTCTornado WarningMLB

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:01 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.

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 00:00Z

9.4 hours before the tornado, 81 km from the path. February 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-02-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 275 joules per kilogram, CIN -27, lifted condensation level 803 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-02-02The 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 373 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 72 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
275 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Surface CAPE
155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
803 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
72 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
373 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
586 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
9.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 12:00Z

2.6 hours after it, 81 km from the path. February 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-02-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 723 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 560 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-02-02The 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 451 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 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
723 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
274 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
451 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
491 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.4
Supercell composite
8.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:23 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
08:45 UTCTORNADOPaisleyLake, FL*** 11 FATAL ***
08:48 UTCTORNADO1 Ssw Forest HillsLake, FL*** 11 FATAL *** LAKE MACK. SURVEY CREW FOUND HIGH END EF3 TORNADO DAMAGE AT THIS SITE WITH WINDS ESTIMATED AT 160 TO 165 MPH.
08:50 UTCTORNADO9 E PaisleyLake, FL*** 3 FATAL *** AT FOREST DRIVE AND STATE ROAD 44 IN LAKE COUNTY. SURVEY REPORTS HIGH END EF3 DAMAGE WITH WINDS 150 TO 154 MPH.
08:55 UTCTORNADO2 E Hontoon Island StatVolusia, FLVOLUSIA COUNTY/LAKE COUNTY LINE. HONTOON ISLAND. HIGH END EF3 DAMAGE WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS OF 150 TO 154 MPH.
09:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 5.14Flagler BeachFlagler, FL24 HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL AT CENTRAL FLAGLER BEACH.
09:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 5.75S Flagler BeachFlagler, FL24 HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL.
09:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 6BunnellFlagler, FL24 HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL. RAIN GUAGE OVERFLOWED.
09:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 6.7BunnellFlagler, FL24 HOUR RAINFALL TOTAL
09:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ne De LandVolusia, FLPOSSIBLE TORNADO. PRELIMINARY REPORT. INTERSTATE 4 AT STATE ROAD 44 CLOSED BOTH LANES DUE TO MULTIPLE VEHICLE ACCIDENT INCLUDING LARGE TRACTOR TRAILER TRUCKS OVER TURNED.
09:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew Smyrna BeachVolusia, FLREPORTS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN AT NSB AIRPORT.
09:02 UTCTORNADODe LandVolusia, FLHIGH END ENHANCED-F2 TORNADO ...EF2... REPORTED BY NWS MELBOURNE SURVEY CREW. ESTIMATED WINDS OF 130 TO 135 MPH.
10:30 UTCTORNADODe LandVolusia, FL*** 3 INJ *** POSSIBLE TORNADO. LAKE BEARSFORD AREA. SEVERAL MINOR INJURIES AS OF THIS TIME.
10:35 UTCTORNADODe LandVolusia, FLPOSSIBLE TORNADO. APPLEWOOD APARTMENTS. COMPLEX EXTENDS FROM SOUTH END OF AMELIA AVE TO US 92. MAJOR DAMAGE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 2, 2007

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 23:10 AM ESTEF3Sumter, FL5.733515$62 million
February 23:17 AM ESTEF3Lake, FL10.5450810$52 million
February 23:37 AM ESTEF3Lake, FL26.04501351$98 million
February 28:00 AM ESTEF0Polk, FL0.550$2,000

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.