Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2007

EF0 tornado, La Belle, Florida, June 7, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Hendry County on June 7, 2007, touching down at 5:20 PM EDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $8,000 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 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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
EF0
Date
June 7, 2007
Touchdown
5:20 PM EDT (21:20 UTC)
Lifted
5:25 PM EDT (21:25 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (2.0 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$8,000
County
Hendry County
Touchdown point
26.720, -81.450
Lift-off point
26.720, -81.430
Record number
0706071520-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Sea breeze initiated thunderstorms developed during the afternoon hours of June 7th. One of these storms produced a brief tornado just south of LaBelle.||Thunderstorms across Hendry and Glades Counties caused 5200 customers to lose power in Hendry County and an additional 1500 customers in Glades County.

EF0 tornado with maximum winds estimated at 70 mph damaged the metal roof of a social hall for the Primera Iglesia Baptist Church just south of LaBelle near the intersection of State Road 29 and Case Road. Several eyewitnesses observed the tornado move across the road before striking the building. About half of the metal roof sheeting was lifted and thrown off, and part of a chain link fence on the the property was knocked down.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:17 UTC22:35 UTCTornado WarningMFL

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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

9.3 hours before the tornado, 145 km from the path. June 7, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 402 joules per kilogram, CIN -94, lifted condensation level 877 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 2007-06-07The 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 -33 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 10 knots.1939Sfc1 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
402 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-94 J/kg
Surface CAPE
340 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-17 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

2.7 hours after it, 145 km from the path. June 8, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2303 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 919 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 2007-06-08The 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 -25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 6 knots.1939Sfc1 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
2303 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2665 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
919 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Ft Myers/Sw Florida (RSW), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC8571 3 kt1016.9
20:53 UTC8869200° 9 kt1016.3
21:53 UTC8669240° 7 kt1016.9
22:24 UTC75.26890° 17 kt291017.6
22:53 UTC7366110° 18 kt221017.6

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

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 145 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:18 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
21:20 UTCTORNADO3 S La BelleHendry, FLEF0 TORNADO ESTIMATED AT 70 MPH DAMAGED THE METAL ROOF OF A CHURCH SOCIAL HALL AT THE INTERSECTION OF STATE ROAD 29 AND CASE ROAD. ABOUT HALF OF THE METAL ROOF SHEETING WAS LIFTED AND THROWN OFF, AND PART OF A CHAIN LINK
21:22 UTCTORNADO3 S La BelleHendry, FLPARTIAL ROOF DAMAGE TO THE SPANISH BAPIST CHURCH AT THE INTERSECTION OF ROUTE 29 AND CASE ROAD.EOC REPORTED POSSIBLE FUNNEL TOUCHDOWN.
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw La BelleGlades, FLTHUNDERSTORM WINDS DAMAGED SEVERAL DOG PENS WITH ONE ANIMAL MISSING.

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 June 7, 2007

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 712:48 PM CDTEF0Marion, IA0.230
June 71:25 PM CDTEF0Wilkin, MN0.225
June 71:41 PM CDTEF1Otter Tail, MN5.8100
June 72:10 PM CDTEF2Otter Tail, MN7.0150
June 72:35 PM CDTEF0Appanoose, IA0.125
June 74:01 PM CDTEF2Marathon, WI7.3225$343,000
June 74:26 PM CDTEF0Wood, WI0.040
June 74:31 PM CDTEF3Menominee, WI40.11,3203$15 million
June 75:37 PM CDTEF1Marinette, WI3.0200$12,000
June 75:47 PM CDTEF0Menominee, MI0.3125$20,000
June 76:16 PM CDTEF1Marinette, WI3.62001$8,000

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.