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EF2 tornado in Lee County, Florida

Tornado January 16, 2022 · Lee County, Florida

EF2
Rating
7.0 mi
Path length
125 yd
Path width
$10.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 125 yards (0.07 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

Iona/Fort Myers tornado. A waterspout first identified just northwest of Fort Myers Beach moved ashore as a tornado and pushed through the Iona area near Fort Myers producing EF-2 damage with peak winds estimated around 118 mph before dissipating near the Cape Coral bridge. Over 200 residences suffered damage across three separate mobile home communities (Point Breeze, Tropicana, and Century 21), with 45 destroyed, 90 sustaining major damage and another 92 with minor damage. 3 people suffered minor injuries. Damage estimates totaled around $10 million USD.

The wider storm

A strong cold front and line of storms moved across central and southwest Florida during the early morning producing multiple tornadoes and strong straight line wind gusts.

Began near Punta Rassa (26.4817, -81.9860).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Charlotte CountyEF1 Charlotte CountyEF0 Lee County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 995997. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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