Synopsis
In east central Florida, a warm sector, a region of warm surface air between a cold front and a warm front, was positioned ahead of a progressing cold front. Large scale lift was supported by a very strong jet stream aloft, with strong vertical shear evident, conducive for rotating thunderstorms and tornadoes. Instability increased overnight with temperatures and dew points increasing through the pre-dawn hours. For example, northwest of Orlando, temperatures were still at 75 °F (24 °C), which was about 3 degrees warmer than the average high for the day and 14 degrees warmer than the average low. The conditions helped to form a long-tracked supercell thunderstorm that traveled from Sumter County to the coastal waters of Volusia County during the early morning hours of February 2, 2007, producing three tornadoes along its track.
At 3:06 am EST (0806 UTC), the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado warning for northern Lake County until 4:00 am EST (0900 UTC). At 3:10 am EST (0810 UTC), the first tornado touched down near The Villages and traveled at 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) into Lake County. Five minutes after the tornado touched down, a severe weather update bulletin was issued by the NWS stating that there was a high likelihood of an extremely dangerous tornado and people in the path were in a life-threatening situation. The tornado received an EF3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and had a track length of 16.5 miles (26.6 km). Initially, the tornado was thought to have still been on the ground and a third bulletin was released at 3:34 am EST (0834 UTC). At this time, Doppler radar indicated that a tornado was forming or was on the ground roughly 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Umatilla.
The mesocyclone that produced the first tornado restrengthened and formed another tornado near Paisley at 3:37 am EST (0837 UTC) in Lake County. A second tornado warning was issued at 3:52 am EST (0852 UTC) for Volusia County as the tornado was tracking toward the area. It went east northeast toward the Lake Mack area, exceeding 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). The tornado received an EF3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and traveled a total of 26 miles (42 km). A third tornado warning was issued in Volusia County at 4:13 am EST (0913 UTC), nearly ten minutes before the third tornado touched down. The supercell produced its last tornado east of Interstate 95 at 4:22 am EST (0922 UTC) and dissipated five minutes later at the Intracoastal Waterway, 3 miles (4.8 km) from where it touched down. The tornado had a maximum width of 100 yards (91 m) around the time it reached peak intensity. The tornado was rated EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and traveled for 3 miles (4.8 km).
Read more about this topic: 2007 Groundhog Day Tornado Outbreak