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On This Day in 1998: Tornado Outbreak Lashes Central Florida
February 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM EST
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Christian Sayles
It was a night like none other, and what lasted for roughly 3 hours would leave a scar that would last more than a quarter of a century. The 1998 Tornado Outbreak in Florida would leave hundreds of people injured while taking the lives of others.
The timing of the event made it so devastating. On the evening of February 22, 1998, a squall line of showers and robust thunderstorms, primed by the influx of warm, humid Gulf of Mexico air, swept through the Florida Peninsula. The storms rolled through about an hour before the clock struck Midnight, so many people were asleep. Even so, it was too dark to see any tornado spin-ups.
The storms began their trek across the central Florida peninsula at about 11 p.m. on February 22 and continued until 3 a.m. February 23, 1998. In those four hours, seven tornadoes were accounted for in central Florida, blitzing through cities such as Tampa, Kissimmee and South Daytona. Five of the tornadoes were ranked F2 or higher on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale with estimated winds of at least 113 mph.
The longest-lived tornado ranked as an F3 with winds of 158-206 mph. This particular storm was on the ground for an hour as it tracked through Osceola County into Orange County. Twenty-five people died in the storm and the damages were tallied at more than $50 million. It was deemed the deadliest F3 tornado in Florida history.
During the storm rampage late February 22 to early February 23, a reported 42 people were killed with more than 250 injured. The storms produced more than $100 million in damages. After the skies cleared, this severe weather event ended up in the record books as Florida’s deadliest tornado outbreak.
Source(s): NOAA, weather.gov, wikipedia.org
Story Image: RV frame wrapped around a tree in the aftermath of the February 22-23rd outbreak. (weather.gov)
The timing of the event made it so devastating. On the evening of February 22, 1998, a squall line of showers and robust thunderstorms, primed by the influx of warm, humid Gulf of Mexico air, swept through the Florida Peninsula. The storms rolled through about an hour before the clock struck Midnight, so many people were asleep. Even so, it was too dark to see any tornado spin-ups.
The storms began their trek across the central Florida peninsula at about 11 p.m. on February 22 and continued until 3 a.m. February 23, 1998. In those four hours, seven tornadoes were accounted for in central Florida, blitzing through cities such as Tampa, Kissimmee and South Daytona. Five of the tornadoes were ranked F2 or higher on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale with estimated winds of at least 113 mph.
The longest-lived tornado ranked as an F3 with winds of 158-206 mph. This particular storm was on the ground for an hour as it tracked through Osceola County into Orange County. Twenty-five people died in the storm and the damages were tallied at more than $50 million. It was deemed the deadliest F3 tornado in Florida history.
During the storm rampage late February 22 to early February 23, a reported 42 people were killed with more than 250 injured. The storms produced more than $100 million in damages. After the skies cleared, this severe weather event ended up in the record books as Florida’s deadliest tornado outbreak.
Source(s): NOAA, weather.gov, wikipedia.org
Story Image: RV frame wrapped around a tree in the aftermath of the February 22-23rd outbreak. (weather.gov)