EF3 Tornado — Lake, Florida

2007-02-02 · near Turpentine, Lake, Florida

Event narrative

The mesocyclone that produced the Lady Lake tornado reintensified and produced a second F3 tornado in a rural area west southwest of Paisley. The tornado move east northeast at over 50 MPH toward the Lake Mack area just west of the St. Johns river. The tornado produced a quarter mile wide track across the Lake Mack area destroying 86 residences and damaging 144. Many mobile homes were completely destroyed. Thirteen people died in mobile homes.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (28.9588, -81.5871)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 18950. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.