126
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
35
Direct injuries
$44.8M
Property damage
Tornado in Lee County, Florida: 126 recorded events between 1953 and 2024. The strongest on record measured F2. That places the county #18 nationally and #8 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Lee County, Florida: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Lee County is the 1990s, when 34 of the county's 126 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Lee County archive, tornado makes up 19.3% of all recorded severe weather across 14 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #18 for this hazard and #8 within Florida, putting it in the 99.4 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for tornado in Lee County with 24 recorded events, while Nov is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960-10-31 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 2024-10-09 | EF2 | 16.3 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 2022-01-16 | EF2 | 7.0 mi | 125 yd | Crossed in |
| 2016-01-09 | EF2 | 3.4 mi | 182 yd | Touched down here |
| 1989-07-23 | EF2 | 1.0 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 1988-11-04 | EF2 | 1.5 mi | 400 yd | Touched down here |
| 1986-08-09 | EF2 | 1.5 mi | 200 yd | Touched down here |
| 1972-06-18 | EF2 | 0.5 mi | 20 yd | Touched down here |
| 1971-03-03 | EF2 | 0.3 mi | 20 yd | Touched down here |
| 1965-02-23 | EF2 | 0.5 mi | 67 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 1960 | F2 | 1 | 0 | $3K | |
| Aug 9, 1986 | F2 | 0 | 12 | $2.5M | |
| Sep 7, 1991 | F1 | 0 | 7 | $250K | |
| Jan 9, 2016 | MATLACHA | EF2 | 0 | 3 | $2.0M |
| Jul 15, 1996 | CAPE CORAL | F0 | 0 | 2 | $250K |
| Feb 23, 1965 | F1 | 0 | 2 | $25K | |
| Dec 21, 2021 | FORT MYERS VILLAS | EF1 | 0 | 1 | $750K |
| Apr 6, 2017 | PUNTA RASSA | EF0 | 0 | 1 | $110K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2024 | FORT MYERS VILLAS | EF2 | $500K |
| Oct 9, 2024 | MATLACHA | EF1 | $50K |
| Oct 9, 2024 | PUNTA RASSA | EF0 | $50K |
| Jun 30, 2024 | BONITA BEACH | EFU | $0 |
| Jun 18, 2023 | PINE ISLAND | EF0 | $5K |
| Apr 29, 2022 | FORT MYERS VILLAS | EF0 | $25K |
| Mar 12, 2022 | FT MYERS BEACH | EF0 | $1K |
| Jan 16, 2022 | CAPE CORAL | EF0 | $0 |
| Jan 16, 2022 | PUNTA RASSA | EF2 | $10.0M |
| Dec 21, 2021 | FORT MYERS VILLAS | EF1 | $750K |
Other hazards here
More from Lee County
- Thunderstorm Wind 229
- Hail 122
- Lightning 57
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Iona/Fort Myers tornado. A waterspout first identified just northwest of Fort Myers Beach moved ashore as a tornado and pushed through the Iona area near Fort Myers producing EF-2 damage with peak winds estimated around 118 mph before dissipating near the Cape Coral bridge. Over 200 residences suffered damage across three separate mobile home communities (Point Breeze, Tropicana, and Century 21), with 45 destroyed, 90 sustaining major damage and another 92 with minor damage. 3 people suffered minor injuries. Damage estimates totaled around $10 million USD.
NWS Storm Survey revealed EF-2 tornado damage in the western sections of Cape Coral. The tornado damaged 178 structures in total. One home was completely destroyed while 14 sustained major damage and another 163 sustained minor damage. The minor damage mainly consisted of roof damage and destroyed pool cages. Over 100 power poles were knocked down along the tornado's path along with many trees. The tornado injured three people while it was on the ground for about 7 minutes.
A fast moving tornado, on the low end of the F1 scale, associated with an outer band of hurricane Gordon, touched down along East Gulf Drive, two miles east of Sanibel on Sanibel Island, and caused extensive damage to two condominium complexes, two dozen nearby homes and lanais. The tornado moved north northwest and sporadically touched down along rural County Road 767 on Pine Island in western Lee county. The tornado damaged the roofs of a few homes, carports and toppled or snapped palm trees along it's path. The tornado lifted and dissipated near Bokeelia on the north side of Pine Island. Residents in the path of the tornado in Sanibel indicated that they heard the sound of roaring train and their ears felt an air pressure change as it passed overhead.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Lee County, Florida?
126 tornado events are recorded in Lee County between 1953 and 2024, causing 1 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Lee County?
The strongest tornado on record in Lee County measured F2.
Where does the tornado data for Lee County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Lee County, Florida.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/florida/lee-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.