EF2 tornado — Sarasota County, Florida

EF2 tornado in Sarasota County, Florida

Tornado January 17, 2016 · Sarasota County, Florida

EF2

Rating

1.1 mi

Path length

350 yd

Path width

Injuries

$12.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An NWS Storm Survey crew found damage to multiple homes and structures along the path of the tornado. One home on Siesta Key had the second floor collapse on to the first. Two people were injured in that home. The tornado was 350 yards wide as it came ashore on Siesta Key before narrowing to around 100 yards wide as it crossed the intercoastal waterways.

The wider storm

A strong and deepening area of low pressure across the northern Gulf pushed a strong line of thunderstorms across the Florida peninsula. Numerous supercell thunderstorms were observed and a few produced strong tornadoes along and near the coast.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 609339. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

EF2 tornado in Sarasota County, Florida

What the National Weather Service wrote

The wider storm

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address