Plant City, FL Tornado History — 248 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Plant City, FL had?
Plant City has had 248 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 1 violent (EF3+) tornado.
When was the most recent tornado near Plant City?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Plant City was an EF0 on August 8, 2025.
When is tornado season in Plant City?
June is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Plant City, with 51 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Plant City
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 28 total, averaging 1.4 per year over this window.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Plant City
12 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Plant City since 1950, across 2 events. 630 injuries have been reported across all events. 1966 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F4 on April 4, 1966, which caused 11 fatalities along a 135.8-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Plant City
About Tornadoes in Plant City
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
The flat strawberry country of eastern Hillsborough County has seen tornadoes come and go since an F1 brushed Plant City on December 4, 1951. The defining event arrived on April 4, 1966, when an F4 raced up the Florida peninsula along a 135.8-mile track, killing 11 people and injuring 530, while a companion F2 traced its own 123.3-mile path that same day. A long-track F1 crossed the area on November 9, 1968, an F2 claimed a life near town on December 7, 1996, and Christmas Day of 2006 brought yet another F2. In the modern era, an EF2 struck on September 10, 2017, and a damaging EF2 tore an 11.45-mile swath on October 19, 2019, leaving roughly $10 million in losses. An EF0 touched down in August 2025.
That timeline reflects central Florida's split tornado calendar. In late spring and summer, sea-breeze boundaries pushing inland from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic collide over the interior peninsula, spinning up brief tornadoes inside afternoon thunderstorms with little notice. The stronger threats favor the cool months, when jet-stream disturbances dig across the northern Gulf and drive sheared squall lines over the warm, humid air lingering near Tampa Bay — the setup behind the area's December and April entries. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center curates the storm database behind this page, and the event list elsewhere on the page traces that seasonal rhythm decade by decade.