EF1 Tornado — Polk, Florida

2011-03-31 · near (lal)lakeland Muni A, Polk, Florida

Event narrative

Seven people were injured during the Sun N Fun Festival activities. There were 50 planes that were damaged or destroyed, with several planes overturned. Five campsites were destroyed with several other camp site tents collapsed or blown down. Light towers and other ground equipment also received damage.

Wider weather episode

A stalled frontal boundary was in place across central Florida. As the boundary began to lift north drawing in abundant warm moist air over the area, an upper level disturbance moved over the area and a squall line developed and quickly moved across the northern half of the area. Several areas of damaging winds and a tornado resulted from this fast moving line on March 30th. The warm front continued to lift north over northern Florida as a developing low pressure system shifted into the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. As this system moved across northern Florida, the cold front pushed into the local area and another series of squall lines moved across the area through the day on March 31st. Several tornadoes and areas of damaging winds occurred across the greater Tampa Bay area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.9858, -82.0226)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 295010. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.