EF-0 tornado touched down in Seminole County, NWS confirms

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – After surveying damage left behind by strong storms that ripped through Central Florida Monday, National Weather Service officials confirmed two EF-0 tornadoes touched down in two Central Florida counties.

Weather officials first confirmed an EF-0 had touched down in Marion County on Monday. According to the NWS, the twister packed winds of 85 mph and touched down along Interstate 75 at mile marker 340 near Ocala. The NWS said the tornado’s intermittent path was more than 11 miles long.

[PHOTOS, VIDEOS: Tornadoes confirmed in Central Florida]

The second tornado, an EF-0 that touched down in Seminole County, was confirmed by weather officials on Tuesday after reviewing video evidence taken by spotters in the area. Weather officials confirmed the weak waterspout was briefly over Lake Jessup before it moved to adjacent land and fell apart.

Also on Tuesday, NWS crews surveyed a path of rotation that was detected on the weather radar Monday from the Heathrow/Lake Mary area of Seminole County to the Scottsmoor area in Brevard. No damage was found.

Crews also surveyed an area in Volusia County where circulation was picked up on the radar during Monday’s storms from west of DeLad to Bethune Beach and only found damage from straight-line winds of about 55-65 mph, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Melbourne Scott Spratt said.

Spratt said most of the damage in DeLand was within several blocks of the same area west of U.S. 17-92 and north of State Road 44.

NWS officials previously said the damage in DeLand was from a tornado but clarified after surveying the actual path that it was a result of the winds that ripped through the area.

Video taken during the storm shows the powerful winds as the storm blew through that portion of DeLand.

Click here to see more photos and videos from Monday’s storms.