Weather
Tornado Briefly Touches Down In Hillsborough County: National Weather Service
A waterspout came ashore, touching down briefly in a neighborhood in the Tampa area, the National Weather Service said.
TOWN ‘N’ COUNTRY, FL — A tornado briefly touched down in the Tampa area during Sunday evening’s band of storms that moved across the region.
A developing thunderstorm produced an EF-0 waterspout that moved onshore in the Villages of Bayport community in the Town ‘N’ Country area at 6:58 p.m., the National Weather Service posted to X.
A tornado's damage intensity is often rated on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, according to the NWS. Their rating is based on estimated wind speeds and related damage, with the lowest being an EF-0 with three-second gusts of 65 to 85 mph and the strongest being an EF-5 with gusts more than 200 mph.
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Sunday’s tornado, which was over by 7:01 p.m., had a maximum wind of 79 mph, NWS said.
“Just before the tornado formed, thunderstorm convergence
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was taking place along the FL west coast as sea breeze boundaries
collided. Several thunderstorms developed along a line extending
from Sarasota Bay, through Manatee County, and into Tampa Bay,” according to an NWS report. “The northernmost cell along this line developed over Old Tampa Bay, just west of Tampa International Airport near Rocky Point. This thunderstorm remained on one of the boundaries, and briefly developed a shallow mesocyclone that extended to around [5,000 feet]. This would go on to produce the brief waterspout that would move onshore before quickly diminishing as the cell moved off the boundary and became outflow dominant.”
The tornado was 75 yards wide and traveled .36 miles after touching down, NWS said.
The tornado damaged the pool cage at a home in the area and caused small debris to fly around, the agency said.
Residents in the neighborhood also shared images of a few additional structures that sustained minor damage.
A large tree was also blown over, the report said.
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