TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) -- A potent late-season storm system swung into the tri-state, Big Bend, and Wiregrass regions on the morning of Mar. 3, 2012, creating a notable and wide-impacting severe weather bout featuring confirmed tornadoes and other wind damage across the area.
A classic combination of warm, moist air from the Gulf; a strong cold front; and gusty winds ahead of it produced a round of storms that triggered a broad line of intense thunderstorms that swept from west to east through the north Florida/south Georgia landscape. Several storms acquired tornadic characteristics, including one cell that produced a tornado in Lowndes and Lanier counties. Wind gusts with the tornado were estimated to reach 140 mph at its strongest point outside of Lakeland, where multiple properties and structures were damaged.
Sixteen tornado warnings were issued by the Tallahassee office of the National Weather Service, and fifteen separate reports of tornado-induced damage were received. Straight-line wind damage also occurred in more than three dozen occasions that day, including eastern Leon County and other spots surrounding the state line.
The WTXL ABC 27 Storm Team conducted over six hours of continuous severe weather coverage that Saturday morning. The storm situation and aftermath dominated news stories throughout the rest of the weekend and in the days that followed.
