Path of the First Tornado of the 2007 Groundhog Day Outbreak

 tornado, historical layer / disappeared object

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At 3:06 am EST (0806 UTC), the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a tornado warning for northern Lake County until 4:00 am EST (0900 UTC). At 3:10 am EST (0810 UTC), the first tornado touched down near The Villages and traveled at 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) into Lake County. Five minutes after the tornado touched down, a severe weather update bulletin was issued by the NWS stating that there was a high likelihood of an extremely dangerous tornado and people in the path were in a life-threatening situation. The tornado received an EF3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and had a track length of 16.5 miles (26.6 km).

A total of 1,145 homes were damaged in Sumter County with 200 destroyed during the six minute duration of the tornado in the county. Fifteen people were injured in Sumter County. The tornado moved across the Lady Lake area where it killed eight people, all of whom were in mobile homes, and injured 10 others. It damaged 180 residences and destroyed 101 in Lake County before dissipating near Emeralda Marsh at 3:25 am EST (0825 UTC).