SARASOTA, Fla. – A tornado formed in Sarasota Wednesday afternoon as strong storms pushed through the area.
Video shared by the Sarasota Police Department shows rotating clouds and a tornado begin to form near its headquarters around 2:15 p.m.
In the nearly 2-minute video, you can see pieces of debris fly up into the air. An employee with the department took the video and can be heard saying, “It took something.”
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The National Weather Service said preliminary information shows it was a brief EF-1 tornado with 90 mph winds.
Large pieces of debris continued to fly around as the tornado moved along. Police said they responded to an area near the headquarters for reports of damage.
Based upon the information we have received, we can confirm a tornado occurred in Sarasota. This was very brief (looks to be around 45 seconds), but we have enough information to conclude that EF-1 damage (90mph) occurred #flwx https://t.co/qQgwkNecWe
— NWS Tampa Bay (@NWSTampaBay) March 16, 2022
Central Florida saw a possible funnel cloud during strong storms that ripped through the region Tuesday.
News 6 viewer Dawn Giachetti captured a cloud formation on the south shore of Lake Minneola near Clermont.
Meanwhile, severe weather that pushed through Central Florida over the weekend caused more than $15 million in damage in Ocala when an EF-1 tornado traveled through.
The NWS said an EF-1 tornado with winds up to 110 mph touched down Saturday morning in Ocala. In its damage survey, NWS Jacksonville said the 200-yard-wide tornado traveled a path of approximately 25 miles from Dunnellon to Ocala in over 28 minutes.
Wraparound moisture associated with the original area of low pressure will move through Central Florida Wednesday afternoon. Expect a few strong storms, with a 40% coverage of rain, gusty winds and possible damaging hail.