2nd tornado confirmed from Tuesday, ‘nicer weekend’ on way after Friday storms

The National Weather Service has confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in the Tampa Bay area during Tuesday’s round of severe weather. And while another round of rough weather was anticipated Friday night, forecasters weren’t expecting it to be as bad as Tuesday’s weather, and it will leave drier conditions and cooler temperatures for the weekend.

On Wednesday, the weather service’s Tampa Bay office confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down in the Bartlett Park area of St. Petersburg just before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. A preliminary damage survey released Thursday showed there was another tornado in Hillsborough County.

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, an EF-1 tornado touched down near homes at The Eagles Golf Club in Odessa. The tornado had an estimated peak wind speed of 90 mph and was on the ground for about two minutes, according to the damage survey.

It traveled 0.61 miles and its path appeared to track across a golf course, with “the most notable structure damage being the detachment/collapse of several pool cages backing up to the golf course,” the weather service said in its report.

“Along the path, there were a couple pockets of EF-1 damage. However, most of the surveyed damage was EF-0,” the report said.

The weather service uses the Fujita Scale to measure tornado strength. An EF-0 tornado is characterized by winds of 40-72 mph and light damage. An EF-1 tornado is characterized by winds of 73-112 mph and moderate damage. Both are considered “weak.”

In St. Petersburg, damage from the EF-0 tornado was minimal, the weather service said. The roof of an apartment building on Sixth Street South had peeled off and left debris littered in a nearby parking lot. That tornado was on the ground for less than a minute.

Florida is getting a lot of cold, wet and severe weather because of a strong El Niño weather pattern this winter, and forecasters say there may be more days like Tuesday in our near future, including from the weather system that was expected to pass over the Tampa Bay area late Friday night.

Forecasters said the Tampa Bay area was under a “marginal risk” of severe thunderstorms Friday. Ali Davis, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Tampa Bay office, said the worst of the weather was expected between 10 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday.

A “marginal risk” means isolated severe thunderstorms are possible, but are likely to be short-lived.

Some storms could include wind gusts up to 60 mph, with the possibility of some isolated tornadoes. But “the severe threat is going to be much more isolated than the event on Tuesday,” Davis said.

The primary difference, she said, will be because of the winds.

“Ahead of the severe weather on Tuesday, we had high wind gusts all day. ... With this event, we’re not really expecting any kind of sustained high winds,” she said.

Because of that, the weather service does not anticipate elevated water levels outside of high tide, so the risk for coastal flooding should be minimal, Davis said.

She said area residents should have a way to receive emergency alerts on their phone in case a tornado warning or other severe weather warning is issued in the overnight hours.

After the storms roll through, “it’s going to be much nicer this weekend,” with lingering chances for an isolated sprinkle or shower and high temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s, Davis said.