NHC HURDAT2 · SPC Tornado Database
Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Tavares, FL
Every tropical system within 75 miles since 1851 and every tornado within 25 miles since 1950.
Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated
79 tropical systems have passed within 75 miles of Tavares, Florida since 1851, 19 of them at hurricane strength; the most recent was Milton in 2024. Since 1950, 111 tornadoes have touched down within 25 miles, 5 of them rated EF3 or stronger.
- Hurricanes
- 19
- Tropical storms
- 60
- Tornadoes
- 111
- EF3 or stronger
- 5
within 75 mi, since 1851
below hurricane strength
within 25 mi, since 1950
40 deaths in all
What the records show for Tavares
The strongest storm to pass near Tavares was an unnamed storm in 1888, a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds when its centre passed 74 miles away. The closest pass by a hurricane was an unnamed storm in 1945, whose centre came within 5 miles. The record near Tavares begins with an unnamed storm in 1852; the most recent system was Milton in 2024, a Category 1 hurricane 55 miles away. The busiest decade was the 1870s, with 9 systems, 3 of them at hurricane strength. Of the 79 systems, 14 have come since 2000. Of the 407 Florida cities on this site, 78% have more hurricanes within 75 miles than Tavares. The highest rating among the 111 tornadoes within 25 miles is F3 or EF3, reached 5 times; the most recent, on February 2, 2007, came within 15 miles. The deadliest, an EF3 on February 2, 2007, killed 13 people. Of the 111, 13 had paths within 5 miles of the city centre, and 34 have come since 2000. April has had the most tornadoes, 17. The most recent tornado was on May 12, 2025. Of the 407 Florida cities, 58% have more tornadoes within 25 miles than Tavares. Hail has been reported within 10 miles 61 times since 1982, with stones up to 2 inches (hen egg size). Tavares has more hail reports within 10 miles than 70% of the 407 Florida cities.
Compare Tavares's storm record with another city →
Tropical storms and hurricanes near Tavares
| Year | Storm | Closest | Strength when closest | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | MiltonOct 10 | 55 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2022 | NicoleNov 10 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (55 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2022 | IanSep 29 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2020 | EtaNov 12 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (49 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2017 | IrmaSep 11 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 5 |
| 2016 | JuliaSep 13 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2008 | FayAug 22 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2006 | ErnestoAug 31 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (45 mph) | Category 1 |
| 2005 | TammyOct 5 | 67 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2004 | JeanneSep 26 | 44 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 3 |
| 2004 | FrancesSep 5 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (64 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2004 | CharleyAug 14 | 24 mi | Category 1 (86 mph) | Category 4 |
| 2002 | EdouardSep 5 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 2001 | GabrielleSep 15 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1995 | JerryAug 24 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1995 | ErinAug 2 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1988 | KeithNov 23 | 65 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1984 | IsidoreSep 28 | 30 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1982 | Unnamed 1982 stormJun 18 | 46 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1981 | DennisAug 19 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1979 | DavidSep 4 | 60 mi | Category 2 (98 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1968 | GladysOct 19 | 31 mi | Category 1 (89 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1968 | DollyAug 10 | 73 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1968 | BrendaJun 19 | 40 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1968 | AbbyJun 6 | 63 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1965 | Unnamed 1965 stormOct 18 | 24 mi | Tropical storm (43 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1964 | CleoAug 28 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1960 | DonnaSep 11 | 16 mi | Category 1 (78 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1959 | Unnamed 1959 stormJun 18 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1956 | Unnamed 1956 stormOct 16 | 66 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1953 | Unnamed 1953 stormSep 20 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1950 | KingOct 18 | 6 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1950 | EasySep 6 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1949 | Unnamed 1949 stormAug 27 | 45 mi | Category 1 (75 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1947 | Unnamed 1947 stormSep 23 | 59 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1946 | Unnamed 1946 stormOct 8 | 44 mi | Category 1 (74 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormSep 16 | 5 mi | Category 1 (79 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1945 | Unnamed 1945 stormJun 24 | 21 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1944 | Unnamed 1944 stormOct 19 | 15 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1939 | Unnamed 1939 stormAug 12 | 60 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1937 | Unnamed 1937 stormAug 30 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1937 | Unnamed 1937 stormJul 30 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1936 | Unnamed 1936 stormAug 22 | 31 mi | Tropical storm (52 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1933 | Unnamed 1933 stormSep 4 | 48 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1930 | Unnamed 1930 stormSep 10 | 74 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormSep 17 | 25 mi | Category 1 (84 mph) | Category 5 |
| 1928 | Unnamed 1928 stormAug 9 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1926 | Unnamed 1926 stormJul 28 | 47 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1921 | Unnamed 1921 stormOct 26 | 7 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1920 | Unnamed 1920 stormSep 30 | 37 mi | Tropical storm (56 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1916 | Unnamed 1916 stormMay 15 | 26 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1915 | Unnamed 1915 stormAug 2 | 38 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1910 | Unnamed 1910 stormOct 18 | 10 mi | Tropical storm (62 mph) | Category 4 |
| 1909 | Unnamed 1909 stormJun 29 | 39 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1906 | Unnamed 1906 stormOct 21 | 20 mi | Tropical storm (40 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1899 | Unnamed 1899 stormOct 5 | 4 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1898 | Unnamed 1898 stormAug 2 | 71 mi | Tropical storm (39 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1897 | Unnamed 1897 stormSep 21 | 35 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1894 | Unnamed 1894 stormSep 26 | 17 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1892 | Unnamed 1892 stormOct 24 | 64 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1889 | Unnamed 1889 stormJun 17 | 61 mi | Tropical storm (47 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormOct 11 | 74 mi | Category 2 (100 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1888 | Unnamed 1888 stormSep 8 | 52 mi | Tropical storm (48 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1887 | Unnamed 1887 stormOct 30 | 2 mi | Tropical storm (41 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1886 | Unnamed 1886 stormJul 19 | 47 mi | Tropical storm (70 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1880 | Unnamed 1880 stormOct 8 | 43 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1880 | Unnamed 1880 stormAug 30 | 25 mi | Tropical storm (69 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1879 | Unnamed 1879 stormOct 27 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (63 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1878 | Unnamed 1878 stormSep 10 | 30 mi | Category 1 (83 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1877 | Unnamed 1877 stormOct 26 | 56 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1874 | Unnamed 1874 stormSep 28 | 69 mi | Category 1 (76 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1873 | Unnamed 1873 stormSep 23 | 5 mi | Tropical storm (51 mph) | Tropical storm |
| 1872 | Unnamed 1872 stormOct 23 | 23 mi | Tropical storm (46 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1871 | Unnamed 1871 stormSep 6 | 72 mi | Tropical storm (59 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1871 | Unnamed 1871 stormAug 25 | 12 mi | Tropical storm (67 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1871 | Unnamed 1871 stormAug 17 | 14 mi | Category 1 (81 mph) | Category 3 |
| 1859 | Unnamed 1859 stormOct 28 | 41 mi | Category 1 (87 mph) | Category 1 |
| 1858 | Unnamed 1858 stormSep 14 | 34 mi | Tropical storm (58 mph) | Category 2 |
| 1852 | Unnamed 1852 stormSep 12 | 43 mi | Tropical storm (60 mph) | Category 1 |
Strength is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, which is not the wind felt in Tavares: a hurricane's worst winds sit within a few dozen miles of its centre, and inland cities are usually past that.
Tornadoes within 25 miles of Tavares
By decade
- 2020s9
- 2010s11
- 2000s14(3 EF3+)
- 1990s18(2 EF3+)
- 1980s21
- 1970s25
- 1960s11
- 1950s2
| Date | Rating | Distance | Path | Killed / injured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2, 2007 | EF3 | 14 mi | 26.03 mi | 13 / 51 |
| Feb 22, 1998 | F3 | 24 mi | 16 mi | 13 / 36 |
| Feb 2, 2007 | EF3 | 9 mi | 10.5 mi | 8 / 10 |
| Feb 22, 1998 | F3 | 19 mi | 18 mi | 3 / 70 |
| Feb 2, 2007 | EF3 | 15 mi | 5.67 mi | 0 / 15 |
| Jan 7, 1995 | F2 | 18 mi | 12 mi | 1 / 20 |
| Mar 12, 1993 | F2 | 8 mi | 30 mi | 1 / 60 |
| Apr 15, 1987 | F2 | 6 mi | 3 mi | 1 / 7 |
| Mar 10, 2025 | EF2 | 20 mi | 4 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 15, 1987 | F2 | 9 mi | 12 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Aug 31, 1985 | F2 | 8 mi | 5 mi | 0 / 0 |
| Apr 9, 1982 | F2 | 20 mi | 3 mi | 0 / 1 |
The strongest 12 of 111, by rating and then by deaths. Ratings before February 2007 are on the original Fujita scale.
Hail in Tavares
The Storm Prediction Center has 61 hail reports within 10 miles of Tavares since 1982, made on 44 separate days. Of these, 31 were 1 inch across or larger, and one reached 2 inches. The largest, 2 inches (hen egg size), fell on June 29, 1998. The most recent report is from February 4, 2024. May has the most reports, 15.
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather reports, data through 2025.
Weather by month in Tavares
The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Leesburg Municipal Airport, FL, 5 miles west of Tavares at 77 feet. August is the warmest, with an average high of 92°F and low of 75°F; January is the coolest, at 70°F and 49°F. June is the wettest at 7.0 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 1.8 inches; the year adds up to 43.8 inches over 70 days with at least a tenth of an inch. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 66% of the year's precipitation (29.1 of 43.8 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 79 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (27); a normal September there has highs of 90°F and 5.2 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 108 days a year, almost all from April to October. Lows fall below freezing on about 2 nights a year. That 43.8 inches is more than at 4 of the 125 Florida stations used on this site (3%). Mount Dora, 5 miles east, has its own station (Mt Plymouth 1SSW, FL): 54.2 inches a year, 10.4 more than here, and the same August average high, 92°F.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip. in | Days ≥ 0.1" |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 70 | 49 | 2.5 | 4 |
| Feb | 73 | 52 | 2.1 | 4 |
| Mar | 77 | 56 | 3.2 | 4 |
| Apr | 83 | 62 | 2.0 | 4 |
| May | 88 | 68 | 2.7 | 4 |
| Jun | 91 | 73 | 7.0 | 11 |
| Jul | 91 | 75 | 5.9 | 11 |
| Aug | 92 | 75 | 6.6 | 10 |
| Sep | 90 | 73 | 5.2 | 8 |
| Oct | 85 | 66 | 2.6 | 4 |
| Nov | 77 | 57 | 1.8 | 3 |
| Dec | 72 | 52 | 2.2 | 4 |
| Year | 82 | 63 | 43.8 | 70 |
Averages for 1991–2020 at Leesburg Municipal Airport, FL (77 ft), from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Normals describe the station; the farther a place is from it, and the bigger the difference in height, the more its weather can differ.
Floods, thunderstorm wind and lightning near Tavares
Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 57 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Tavares: 49 thunderstorm wind reports, 4 heavy rain events, 2 lightning strikes, 1 flash flood and 1 flood. They killed 1 person and injured 2, and the NWS estimated $3.4 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 81 mph, on April 30, 2013.
May 21, 2022: lightning strike 9 miles from the centre of Tavares — 1 killed, 1 injured.
June 26, 2017: lightning strike 10 miles from the centre of Tavares — 1 injured, $5,000 damage.
October 26, 2025: flash flood 4 miles from the centre of Tavares — $2.8 million damage.
NWS: “A stalled thunderstorm lingered over the Eustis, Mount Dora, and Sorrento area for several hours, producing an extreme amount of rainfall. Over approximately 6 hours, between 15 to 19 inches of rainfall fell over the area, specifically between State Road 44 and US-441.”
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, events whose starting point is on record, 1996 to June 30, 2026. Damage is the NWS estimate in the dollars of the year, not insured losses, and NWS notes that some reports are unverified.
Flood insurance claims, disaster declarations and FEMA risk ratings
Flood insurance policyholders in Tavares's ZIP code 32778 have filed 36 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1984, and were paid $141,000 for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Irma in 2017: 10 claims (28% of all) and $77,000. 58% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 340 Florida cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 57 have fewer than Tavares.
| Event | Claims | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Irma2017 | 10 | $77,000 |
Lake County, which includes Tavares, has been named in 37 federal disaster or emergency declarations since 1977, 22 of them major disasters (by incident: 17 hurricanes, 5 severe storms, 4 tropical storms, 3 fires). The latest major disaster declaration was Hurricane Milton, on October 11, 2024. FEMA's National Risk Index gives Lake County a Relatively Moderate rating for natural hazard risk overall; by hazard: Very High for strong wind and lightning; Relatively High for hurricanes and tornadoes; Relatively Moderate for inland flooding and heat waves; Relatively Low for hail; Very Low for coastal flooding. It models the county's expected loss from all 18 hazards it covers at $102.3 million a year, the 28th highest of 67 Florida counties; of the hazards above, the largest share, $46.4 million (45%), is from inland flooding.
Claims: FEMA, OpenFEMA Dataset FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims – v3, summed over ZIP codes; payments in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Declarations: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2, by county. Retrieved October 25, 2026. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Risk ratings: FEMA, National Risk Index county table, December 2025 (v1.20), retrieved October 26, 2026; ratings compare counties nationwide, are meant for planning and are no substitute for a local risk assessment. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
What counts as a pass, the distances and the sources: how this storm history is built.
Cities near Tavares
- Mount Dora, FL5 mi
- Astatula, FL6 mi
- Grand Island, FL7 mi
- Howey In The Hills, FL7 mi
- Leesburg, FL7 mi
- Eustis, FL8 mi
- Umatilla, FL10 mi
- Zellwood, FL11 mi
- Fruitland Park, FL11 mi
- Minneola, FL12 mi
- Sorrento, FL12 mi
- Montverde, FL14 mi
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