Windy was an understatement: 60+ mph winds recorded on Solstice Day
On Tuesday morning, Dec. 21 it was one of those mornings when you saw a lot of people looking concerned and asking one another, “What is going on?”
Wind. It was wind that was going on, and a lot of it. What had originally been reported as the passing through of a standard “cold” front, for Southwest Florida turned into a doozie in many ways.
While there was little rain involved, wind gusts of possibly even 70 mph were recorded just south of us, and the National Weather Service had our area showing sustained winds of 46 mph with gusts up to 62 mph at 9:53 a.m. that day.
Tornado watches were issued for the area at about 7 a.m. as it was confirmed that a tornado touched down around 6:30 a.m. in Fort Myers.
By 3 p.m. the winds had died down, but they left some quite large trees damaged, lots of tree debris and broken Christmas decorations. Power was also out for some on the south until Wednesday afternoon, and some people are still having telephone problems as of Thursday, press day.
