NWS Confirms EF-1 Tornado Touched Down In Bradenton Saturday

BRADENTON, FL — The U.S. National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Bradenton Saturday afternoon, the NWS shared on Facebook Monday.

The tornado damaged homes and injured one person in a neighborhood off El Conquistador Parkway near IMG Academy. The tornado, which appeared around 5:45 p.m., had peak winds of 95 mph and was on the ground for about a half mile, NWS said.

The tornado touched down when a band of strong storms swept through the region Saturday afternoon and evening.

Manatee County’s Public Safety Department responded to the neighborhood to assist residents. Manatee County EMS treated one person injured in the storms, PSD said. Images shared by the department showed damage and debris throughout the neighborhood.

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While the county’s Public Safety Department described the weather incident as a tornado Saturday evening, initially, meteorologist Tyler Fleming told Patch that NWS had ruled out a tornado. Instead, he believed the damage was caused by straight-line winds, which are produced by thunderstorms.

“Essentially, it’s a damaging wind,” he said. “With a tornado, we expect to see something on our radar. There was no signature to that effect.”

After further studies, the NWS ultimately determined that a tornado did hit the area, though. It also said that a second tornado, an EF-0 with peak winds of 65 mph, touched down in Winter Haven in Polk County Sunday just after noon.