Near miss tornado Jan. 16, 2022

I’ll start this by saying that the EF2 tornado that struck Sunday morning at 7:35am in Iona/Fort Myers, Florida, did not have any direct impact or damage to my area, other than a power outage of 90 minutes. This is also not an account of what actually happened, but rather a general overview and some still pictures from the 3-minute video I took as the tornado passed a mile away to the west in a northeasterly direction. I was never in any danger from winds or debris. 

The forecast was for strong to severe storms Sunday morning, January 16th, as a cold front moved through the Florida peninsula. Less than a month prior, another cold front had spawned a tornado in Fort Myers that passed to the south of my neighborhood. In Florida, tornadoes are common in winter as cold fronts pass through. They often start as waterspouts that make landfall. Over 60% are weak EF0 with fewer than 7% EF2. Since 1950, only one EF3 has been observed in Florida, and none stronger. During hurricane season – April to November – tornadoes are common during interactions with tropical storms.

I checked the weather radar on my phone about 7:25, and saw a compact storm squall racing in off the Gulf of Mexico about to make landfall a few miles away. It was a single cell, well out in front of the main line of storms, and certainly appeared ominous. In the back of my mind since yesterday on Saturday, the possibility of tornadoes had been a low hum, when around 7:30, my phones went off with a ‘tornado warning in your area alert’. I put some clothes on and went outside. This is the first time in real-life I’ve ever seen a tornado, but having watched countless videos online, I knew immediately a tornado was very close.

The sound was unmistakable.

A low frequency roar like an industrial fan or vacuum cleaner.

The clouds off to the southwest were swirling like a whirlpool.

The neighbors started coming outside as well and I pointed to the sky. “There’s a tornado. Right there.”

I also knew we were not in the path. The tornado was rapidly moving left to right. From my vantage point, looking due west, the twister was a mile away and racing northeast towards heavily populated areas. A blue flash lit up the base as it hit power lines.

Looking due west at tornado moving left to right

About 30 seconds after funnel touchdown

As I continued filming, the base was hidden behind homes and trees. About one minute into the five minute long tornado track, there were three rapid power flashes within five seconds. These were caused when power transformers blew as the 118 mile-per-hour winds swirled through neighborhoods of mobile homes. I’m not going to link to articles, you can find plenty by searching “Iona tornado”.

1st power flash

2nd power flash

3rd power flash

Mobile home debris swirling

About 45 seconds later, the last picture I’m going to post, shows more debris and larger cone forming. Within another 40 seconds, the path had moved far enough away to be lost in the overall clouds overhead and I stopped filming.

Although about 100 mobile homes were either destroyed or heavily damaged, and numerous other dwellings impacted along with trees down, there was no loss of life and only a few minor injuries.

Looking due north.

****Update 1/19/22***** Changed the date in the title, put Saturday’s date in error.

Also on the 19th, the National Weather Service updated their estimate of the tornado’s path. Based upon ground surveys and video evidence, the NWS concluded that the tornado in fact had started as a waterspout over San Carlos Bay and then moved onshore. The path of the tornado was upgraded from 1.8 miles in length to 7.9 miles and the duration was changed from 5 minutes to 16 minutes on the ground/water.