Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2012

EF0 tornado, East Naples to Naples Park, Florida, June 23, 2012

From East Naples to Naples Park, this EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Collier County on June 23, 2012, touching down at 4:00 PM EDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1.

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 23, 2012
Touchdown
4:00 PM EDT (20:00 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
County
Collier County
Touchdown point
26.274, -81.789
Lift-off point
26.274, -81.789
Record number
1206231400-01

What the Weather Service recorded

The outer bands from Tropical Storm Debby located in the northeast Gulf of Mexico spawned two tornadoes in the Naples area both with EF0 intensity.

This tornado was first observed as a waterspout just of Isle of Capri and then tracked into the Naples area. Survey of damage revealed mostly broken tree branches, one which fell on and damaged a car, uprooted small trees and a palm tree split in half. A pool lanai was heavily damaged, but only minor roof damage was noted. Damage path indicated a low-end EF0 tornado with winds likely no more than 70-75 mph. Path length was discontinuous approximately 1.7 miles with width likely no more than 20 yards.

A brief tornado touchdown occurred at the North Collier Hospital in North Naples on the corner of Immokalee and Goodlette-Frank Roads. Damage was reported to trees and light poles broken off, but no structural damage to the hospital. One person was struck by a downed tree limb and was treated on-site. The tornado was likely spawned by the same storm that produced the earlier tornado in East Naples.

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

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:58 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:58 UTC20:15 UTCTornado WarningMFL
20:00 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningMFL
20:23 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningMFL
20:27 UTC21:15 UTCTornado WarningMFL
22:08 UTC23:15 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 19:56 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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

8.0 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. June 23, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2012-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1891 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 535 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, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2012-06-23The 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 85 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 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
1891 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1586 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
535 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

4.0 hours after it, 158 km from the path. June 24, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2012-06-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 233 joules per kilogram, CIN -268, lifted condensation level 638 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2012-06-24The 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 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
233 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-268 J/kg
Surface CAPE
240 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
638 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-4 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

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 156 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:59 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
19:35 UTCTORNADO3 Ese NaplesCollier, FLREPORTS RELAYED BY COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OF MOSTLY TREE DAMAGE IN EAST NAPLES FROM BARCELONA CIRCLE AND BEECHWOOD LAKE RD AREAS NORTHWEST TO INTERSECTION OF PENNY LANE AND PALM DRIVE. DISTANCE OF DAMAGE PAT
19:58 UTCTORNADOEast NaplesCollier, FLTHERE WAS A POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ALONG TAMIAMI TRAIL AND RATTLESNAKE HAMMOCK ROAD IN EAST NAPLES. LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A DAMAGE PATH ASSOCIATED WITH THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO.
20:00 UTCTORNADO2 E Vanderbilt BeachCollier, FL*** 1 INJ *** PROBABLE BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT NORTH COLLIER HOSPITAL ON CORNER OF IMMOKALEE AND GOODLETTE-FRANK ROADS IN NORTH NAPLES AREA. DAMAGE REPORTED TO TREES AND LIGHT POLES, BUT NO STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. A PERSON
20:00 UTCTORNADONaplesCollier, FLTHERE WAS A POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT THE INTERSECTION OF PENNY LANE AND PALM DRIVE IN NAPLES. LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED ROOF DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO.
20:15 UTCTORNADONaplesCollier, FL*** 1 INJ *** A POSSIBLE TORNADO PASSED OVER NORTH COLLIER HOSPITAL IN NAPLES. DAMAGES CONSISTED OF DOWNED TREE LIMBS AND BROKEN STREET LIGHTS ON A PARKING GARAGE. ONE PERSON WAS STRUCK BY ONE OF THE DOWNED TREE LIMBS AN

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 23, 2012

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 233:35 PM EDTEF0Collier, FL1.720$35,000

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.