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EF1 tornado in Lee County, Florida

Tornado October 19, 2019 · Lee County, Florida

EF1

Rating

1.1 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$600K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

A tornado touched down in northwest Cape Coral, damaging 18 homes and several vehicles. Most of the damage to homes involved partial roof damage, and fascia, siding, and awnings being blown off the homes. A couple of cars were rolled over, totaling the vehicles. No injuries were reported.

The wider storm

Tropical Storm Nestor developed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved northeast, making landfall on St. Vincent Island in the Florida Panhandle on the afternoon of the 19th. The bulk of the convection developed on the eastern and southeastern side of the storm, with a couple bands of showers and storms moving into the west coast of the Florida Peninsula. These bands of storms produced 3 confirmed tornadoes, including one EF-2 tornado in Polk County. Otherwise, straight line winds were minimal in west central and southwest Florida and caused little impacts.

The highest storm total rainfall in west central and southwest Florida was 7.77 inches in Baskin in Pinellas County, with other areas in Pinellas and parts of Hillsborough County seeing 5 to 6 inches, causing minor nuisance flooding.

The highest storm surge in the area was 3.6 feet at Cedar Key. Taking into account the astronomical tide cycle, this resulted in a peak water level of 2.27 feet MHHW at 5:18 AM EDT on the 19th.

Began near Cape Coral (26.6796, -82.0255).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Polk County EF0 Pinellas County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 854389. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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