12 1964 - morning hours - Central Florida - Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms associated with a vigorous squall line struck Duval, Marion, Polk, Volusia, Lake Counties. Many trees uprooted and antennas and signs blown down. Some damage occurred to windows and commercial buildings. No serious injuries.
22 1973 - 1630 - Polk Co. - Tornadoes touched down in Lakeland and Lithia, destroying 4 trailers and injuring 8 people.
28 1973 - Afternoon - Central Florida - Tornadoes touched down in Polk, Orange, Osceola, and Brevard Counties. In Orlando hundreds were left homeless and 16 people were injured by a tornado crossing the southwest side of the city. Another tornado ripped off the beacon tower at the Titusville Airport and damaged many signs. A tornado near Dade City injured a man in a mobile home. Another Tornado struck the Ixora Park area of Northwest Osceola Co. damaging 300 homes injuring seven people.
15 l939 - l500 - Polk Co. - A tornado, reported as a "huge black funnel", moved into Bartow and destroyed a small home.
19 l963 - Morning - central Florida - Pinellas, Polk, Orange, Seminole, Hillsborough, Lake and Brevard Counties - thunderstorm winds caused damage to buildings, parked aircraft, and some construction equipment. Wind gust blew small car from Sunshine Skyway into the Gulf and drowned the driver. Several small tornadoes touched down briefly in Central Florida causing minor damage.
27 l947 - afternoon - Hillsborough - Tornado destroyed a home in Tampa and unroofed another injuring 3. - Polk Co. - Tornado unroofed a large home and damaged others southeast of Lakeland.
ll l944 - 2030 - Polk Co., Agricola - Tornado destroyed a large barn and unroofed a house. 2100 - Polk Co., Welcome - Tornado unroofed 2 large houses and destroyed a small one.
15 - l8 l960 - north and central Florida - Citrus, Marion, Lake, Seminole, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Sumter, Hernando, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties - Heavy Rain and Flood - Generally more than l0 inches of rain fell on a large section of central Florida during this 4-day period and the area of Pasco, Hernando, most of Sumter and the northern portion of Hillsborough counties received close to l5 inches of rain. Many points reported hail, high wind and tornadoes at some point during the period. Resulting high water and river overflow wreaked havoc on roads, bridges and agricultural crops. River overflow and/or accumulated waters in poorly drained areas forced many residents from their homes in several effected counties. Flood on the Hillsborough River considered worst since September l933. Total storm damage, including that of hail, wind, tornadoes, flood and other causes estimated near $20 million, half of which was sustained by agriculture.
l7 l960 - Afternoon - Polk County, Haines City - Lightning killed one person.
l8 l991 - l0l4 - Polk Co., Lakeland - A tornado touched down 3 times. l3 mobile homes destroyed, 85 mobile homes damaged, l90 houses and apartments, telephone, power lines, and trees downed. Two injuries.
22 l957 - l600-l700 - Polk Co., near Waverly - Hailstones of golf-ball size hit citrus groves in 2- square-mile area, stripping trees of foliage and knocking large amounts of fruit from trees. Many oranges split open, some grapefruit completely penetrated by hail but left hanging on trees.
24 l983 - Morning - Central-South Florida - Severe Weather Outbreak - A strong squall line moved across peninsular Florida, producing tornadoes in Winter Haven, Polk Co., Kenansville, Osceola Co., Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island, and Melbourne in Brevard Co. Severe thunderstorm winds and hail struck Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Broward, and Dade Counties. Two injuries were reported.
25 l909 - 0700 - Polk Co., Kathleen - Tornado killed l person in one of 8 homes destroyed.
25 1955 - afternoon - central Florida - Large Hail caused heavy roof damage to homes and barns in Sumter County. Large hail also fell in Pasco, Hernando, Polk, and Indian River Counties. Hail of lesser size was reported in Lake and Brevard counties.
30 1996 - Afternoon - evening - Central Florida - Severe Weather Outbreak
- Tornadoes were documented in Hernando,
Sumter, Lake, Polk, and Brevard counties. In Brevard County, a waterspout
/tornado touched down in Merritt Island and
Cape Canaveral, tearing out windows and damaging roofs on six homes,
destroying a small building on a used car lot, and
damaging the roof of a night club and a dive shop. 25 other buildings
in the area received minor damage. Windows were blown
out of 30 vehicles. Damage estimates were near $500,000. Hail,
most the size of baseballs, severely damaged the roofs,
knocked out windows in nearly 600 homes, and severely damaged 3,000
vehicles in Lake Wales, Polk County. Softball size
hail (4.50-inch) also occurred in Lake Wales, which set a new record
as the largest documented hail for the state of Florida.
Hail accumulated to a depth of one foot in Bartow. Golf ball
size hail (1.75-inch) fell in Hillsborough, Lake, Orange, Seminole,
Brevard, Osceola and Martin counties. An 86 mph wind gust at Bartow
Municipal Airport caused window and roof damage to
the FAA tower, severely damaged roofs and doors of two businesses at
the airport, and overturned and demolished five
mobile homes on wheels at a mobile home plant on airport property.
Winds blew down trees in Chuluota, Seminole County, in
Mulberry, Polk County, and damaged a van and injured one person in
Ocoee, Orange County. Total property damage was
estimated at $28 million dollars, with the storm producing the record
size hail causing the majority of the damage at nearly $25
million dollars.
31 l93l - l030 - Polk Co., Mulberry - Tornado damaged or destroyed 20 small homes and unroofed l large home. 9 injuries.
11 l975 - morning - afternoon - north and central Florida - Flash Floods and Tornadoes - Heavy rain of 4 to 6" in a few hours caused local flash flooding in Jacksonville and Marion and Lake Counties. Tornadoes were reported in Putnam, Marion, Volusia(2), Lake, Brevard, Escambia, Walton, and Polk Counties between 1030 and 1830 causing primarily roof, tree and car damage. The only one minor injury occurred from a tornado at Merritt Island, Brevard Co.
l4 l975 - afternoon - Escambia Co., Pensacola - A Tornado moved into the western portion of Pensacola collapsing a 200 foot section of a furniture store wall, tearing the roof off a house, and damaging several other homes. Several small tornadoes were also reported in Walton, Polk, and Volusia Counties causing only minor damage.
15 l958 - Early Afternoon - Central Florida - Severe weather Outbreak - Violent squall with winds near 80mph hit Mullet Key and moved across Tampa Bay to Sun City, Ruskin, and Wimauma leaving destruction and debris not unlike a tornado. A B-47 bomber exploded and crashed into Tampa Bay just before the heaviest part of the storm hit, killing all 4 crew members. Polk Co., Bereah - Tornado leveled 9 small homes. A 2,500 gallon water tank was found a mile away. 7 injuries. l220 - St. Johns Co., St. Augustine - Tornado destroyed 6 homes injuring 8. l309 - St. Lucie Co., Ft. Pierce - Tornado destroyed/damaged 28 homes and about 200 other buildings. Most of the destruction was in downtown business area where more than 50 people were injured by flying glass.
25 l99l - afternoon - Central Florida - Widespread Severe weather outbreak. Many reports of tornadoes and severe thunderstorm winds during the afternoon with widespread minor property damage and only two minor injuries. Weak tornadoes struck Largo and Indian Shores in Pinellas Co. - Lakeland and Mulberry in Polk Co., and near McDill AFB and Temple Terrace in Hillsborough Co. Severe Thunderstorm Winds struck Clearwater, St. Petersburg Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Venice, Port Charlotte, Wauchula, Arcadia, Avon Park, Lake Wales, Sebastian and Miami. Hail was also reported in Sarasota, Polk, and Pinellas Cos. Lightning struck a man working under a truck south of Miami.
6 l94l - l630 - Polk Co., Haines City - Tornado destroyed 8 small homes and 500 citrus trees. 20 injuries.
6 l964 - afternoon - A Tropical Depression spawned several tornadoes and waterspouts - 12l0 Duval Co., Normandy, Avondale and Lake Shore areas - Tornado unroofed homes and overturned trailers. l500 - Polk Co., Lake Marion, Haines City - Tornado/Waterspout over Lake Marion came ashore, destroying 3 concrete block cottages.
7 l992 - l900 - Polk Co. - Lightning killed a man while he was checking on his livestock.
l3 l98l - l7l5 - Hillsborough County - A tornado was observed moving across a field in northwestern Hillsborough County near Citrus Park as severe thunderstorms moved through the area. Winesses reported that sever power poles in a row were knocked down. No injuries were reported; however, two persons were trapped in a car by live wires. - l930 - Polk County - A tornado touched down briefly 6 miles east of Bartow causing extensive damage to barns and buildings and knocking down several trees. No injuries reported.
16 l992 - l800 - Polk Co. - Lightning killed a man that stopped to help two women motorist who had stalled on US Hwy. l7. One woman suffered some hearing loss.
l7-l8 l982 - statewide - A subtropical storm moved from the southeast Gulf of Mexico, northeast across the central Florida Peninsula into the Atlantic causing at least 12 tornadoes, high winds, extensive beach erosion along the west coast, and heavy rain that flooded rivers and urban areas. From Tampa Bay to Naples some waterfront building suffered damage from undermining and damage to marinas and small boats was widespread. Heavy rains caused flooding of six rivers and creeks in west central Florida. On the Manatee River, 20 families were evacuated. The Peace River crested a week after the storm causing the evacutation of 130 families. A l l/2 year old boy drowned in a flooded drainage ditch, and a Brevard Co. woman drowned when her canoe turned over, her 4 year old son was rescued after clinging to the canoe for 6 hours. Twelve tornadoes were reported between the morning of the 17th and the morning of the 18th from Dade and Broward Counties to Polk and Volusia Counties. On the evening of the 17th a tornado destroyed 5 trailers and 2 cars in northwest Hendry County, killing a man in a trailer and seriously injuring his wife. In Glades Co. five more trailers, a cabin, and a camper were destroyed by the same tornado injuring three people. Another tornado moved through the Lake Josephine area in Highlands County destroying 23 homes and mobile homes and damaging many more, injuring 9 people. The ten other tornadoes caused much property damage, but no deaths or serious injuries.
19 l967 - l0l5 - Polk Co., Eagle Lake - Lightning killed a boy on the shore of Lake McLeod.
20 l975 - evening - Polk Co., Lakeland - Lightning killed a l6 year old boy, injured l, when a power line was struck next to their tree house.
25 l990 - Lightning killed three people. ll35 - Broward Co., Davie - Lightning killed a lawnworker and injured another. l255 - Dade Co., N. Miami - Lightning killed a man sitting underneath a tree. l530 - Polk Co., Mulberry - Lightning killed a crane operator.
26 1996 1230 - Polk Co., Haines City - A 51-year-old woman was injured
by lightning that struck a tree one foot away from
where she was standing. The lightning bolt first struck the tree, then
arced to the woman's chest, which knocked her to the
ground with first, second and third degree burns across the right side
of her chest. The lightning arced from the woman to a
parked vehicle which she had touched with her car keys. The vehicle's
alternator and computer system was damaged by the
electrical surge.
28 l988 - l400 - Polk Co., Lake Wales - Lightning killed a man riding a horse on a cattle ranch.
ll l993 - l905 - Polk Co., Lakeland - Lightning killed a man when he went outside during a storm to bring in his dog.
l8 l962 - afternoon - Polk Co., Lake Wales - Lightning killed a person and injured 4.
28 l99l - l8l5 - Polk Co., Lake Eva - Lightning killed a fisherman in a boat on the lake.
29 l964 - unknown - Polk Co., Haines City - Lightning killed a worker in a citrus grove.
24 l966 - afternoon - Polk Co., Bartow - Lightning killed one person and injured two.
31 1955 - evening - Polk, Co., Lakeland - Lightning killed one person and caused minor property damage.
l5-30 l994 - Peninsular Florida - Flooding - Two synoptic-scale systems, one tropical and one non-tropical brought heavy rain to most of peninsular Florida the last half of September. Rivers and streams, particularly in the west central counties of Citrus, Polk, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Hardee, Desoto and Manatee Counties, overflowed, flooding roadways and inundating or isolating residential areas. The northeast and east central areas experienced urban flooding that closed roads and flooded schools and homes in Duval County and flooded subdivisions in Flagler, Volusia, St. Johns and Brevard Counties. In southern interior Florida, flooding of swampy areas around Lake Okeechobee damaged some roadways in Hendry County and isolated houses in Glades and western Palm Beach Counties. Flooding was also reported in Wakulla County in northwest Florida.
13 1969 - afternoon - north central Florida - Tornado struck Beville's Corner (sw of Leesburg) in Sumter Co., damaged 10 buildings, 3 homes, and 11 mobile homes - injuring 1. Two were killed in a traffic accident on SR 476 near the tornado site. Another tornado struck Inverness in Citrus County, damaging trailers. Hail reported up to l l/2" in Brevard and Baker Cos. Lightning caused a fire in Lake Wales (Polk Co.) that destroyed an auto parts shop and a car.
22 l969 - 0l00 - 0200 - Polk Co., Lake Wales - l8 apartment units completely gutted by fire attributed to lightning.