EF3 Tornado — Sumter, Florida

2007-02-02 · near Royal, Sumter, Florida

Event narrative

The tornado first touched down near the southeast corner of The Villages south of Lake Miona and moved rapidly to the east northeast at 55 MPH into Lake County. A FEMA report to Sumter County emergency management officials detailed damage to 1,145 homes with 200 destroyed during the 6 minutes the tornado was on the ground. A National Weather Service storm survey estimated maximum winds of 140 MPH. No fatalities were recorded in Sumter County and 15 injuries is a rough estimate.

Wider weather episode

A developing area of low pressure over the western Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, February 1 intensified and moved off the mid Atlantic coast Friday. Numerous thunderstorms developed out ahead of and along the associated cold front that pushed into southern Florida late Friday. The first tornado of the year to use the Enhanced Fujita Scale occurred just after 3 AM Friday in The Villages in northeast Sumter County. Several violent tornadoes were reported across central Florida early Friday morning. This violent tornado outbreak was the largest in Florida since the Kissimmee tornadoes of February 22-23, 1998.

In addition to the tornadoes, gusty southwest winds ahead of the cold front combined with high tide to cause areas of minor coastal flooding along west and southwest facing shorelines north of Tampa Bay.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (28.8815, -82.0457)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 17515. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.