SPC Stats

Path length: 65.4 miles

Width:  17 yards

Fatalities:  0

Injuries:  3

Rating:  F2

County:  Collier, Hendry

It was the second tornado to hit in the matter of days across the Naples area. The first hit on November 9 and resulted in two fatalities and 17 injuries. Per Storm Data, the tornado hit near Naples, toppling a 705-foot tall tower and flattening a hunting camp 12 miles NE of Golden Gate. It moved NE sweeping through a farm labor camp about 30 miles SW of Clewiston. Velma Herrera and her 2-year-old son were killed when their trailer was carried 25 feet and demolished. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, this was part of a family of tornadoes that moved 45 miles. That tornado was given a rating of F2. Here is an article from the Fort Myers News-Press from November 11, 1968 about this event:

Two days later, another estimated F2 began off Vanderbilt Beach as a waterspout. It moved into North Naples destroying five homes and damaging 12 others. It skipped northeasterly across Big Cypress Swamp and struck a barn near Clewiston.  This tornado had a longer path of 60-65 miles.

Per the official SPC record, there were three injuries. Storm Data wasn’t specific on where the injuries occurred.  Grazulis stated the injuries were to the men at the Clewiston barn.

As I started doing search in the newspapers, there were three injuries reported closer to Naples. This is from the November 12, 1968 Fort Myers, New-Press:

Here are clips from the November 12, 1968 Palm Beach Post showing the gentlemen who took shelter in a barn inside a concrete-constructed saddle room at the Sugarland Ranch of the United States Sugar Co. The image caption states the men were not injured. It doesn’t mean they didn’t have some minor injuries, I just couldn’t find any other report on their conditions. More than likely the three official injuries were the ones in Naples. 

Tornado Path

SPC coordinates:  Start: 26.17 / -81.83      End: 26.75 / -81.00

Corrected Coordinates based on damage reports:

Start: 26.227319/-81.869008    End: 26.768221/-81.083407

These corrected coordinates brings the path into portions of Lee County.  We could not find any damage reports for that county.

Note:  Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.

Newspaper Clippings

Discrepancies:

We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the November 1968 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:

Path Length:

  • SPC/NCDC have a 65.4 mile path length.
  • Grazulis and Storm Data have a length at 60 miles.  Grazulis mentions a skipping path.

Width:

  • SPC/NCDC have a 17 yard width.
  • Grazulis and Storm Data have a width of 20 yards.

      Sources:

      The Storm Prediction Center

      NCDC Storm Events Database

      November 1968 Storm Data Publication

      newspapers.com

      Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1102.

      Questions or comments about this summary?  Contact us here!

      Join the tornado history discussion on our Discord Server!

      Note:  There are some images/videos in our summaries that were licensed to us to be used only on this website. If you would like to use an image/video in your project or blog, please contact us and we will grant permission if possible.

      Newspaper clips are embedded via newspapers.com. Please see their terms and conditions.

      ————————————————

      Would you like to see more summaries like this one?  Support Tornado Talk on Patreon! Become a Patron!


      0 Comments

      Leave a Reply

      Avatar placeholder

      You cannot copy content of this page