EF0 tornado, Fruitland Park to Lady Lake, Florida, September 1, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

September 1, 2016

Touchdown

8:40 PM EDT (00:40 UTC)

Lifted

8:44 PM EDT (00:44 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

4.3 miles (7.0 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$22,000

County

Lake County

Touchdown point

28.861, -81.913

Lift-off point

28.923, -81.927

Record number

1609011840-01

As Hurricane Hermine approached a Gulf of Mexico landfall along the Florida Big Bend, a strong outer rainband moved into the central Florida interior from the eastern Gulf. Within the rainband, several shallow mesocyclones become evident on radar across western Orange County and northwest Lake County. Two EF0 tornadoes were confirmed, as well as areas of straight-line wind damage.

Emergency Management officials provided detailed wind damage reports which occurred along a 4.35 mile long south-to-north path from Fruitland Park to Lady Lake, parallel to and just west of U.S. Highway 441. The damage consisted mainly of downed trees, branches and powerlines, although two homes in Lady Lake sustained structural damage due to falling trees. The most significant damage occurred on the east side of the tornado track, due to the rapid storm motion of 60 mph. The discontinuous damage path began near the College Avenue and W Miller Street in Fruitland Park and ended in Lady Lake, about midway between the Recreation Plantation RV Resort and Highway 441. A review of all available data suggests that the wind damage was likely the result of a EF-0 tornado (winds estimated 70-75 mph). Isolated tree damage south and north of the tornado track was likely due to strong straight-line winds associated with the cell. DI2, DOD1, EXP; DI27, DOD2, EXP; DI27, DOD3, LB.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS MLB issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:53 UTC and running to 03:00 UTC.

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 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 19:41 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 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), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:38 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.