Affecting mainly the Interstate 4 (I-4) corridor of Central Florida, including the Greater Orlando area, the tornadoes—among the strongest ever recorded in Florida—produced near-violent damage, killed 42 people, and caused 259 injuries.
Along the boundary, a vigorous squall line with embedded supercells—the initial nexus of severe weather—developed over the eastern Gulf of Mexico and headed eastward, toward the Tampa Bay Area.
By 7:00 p.m. EST, a low-pressure area near Mobile, Alabama, was linked to a cold front that extended southward, just off the west coast of Florida, while a trough in the middle to upper troposphere generated a strong subtropical jet maximum of up to 140 kn (160 mph; 260 km/h).
During El Niño the jet stream is typically stronger and displaced southward near or over Florida during meteorological winter and spring, thereby augmenting the likelihood of significant severe weather and tornado activity.
EST (11:00 UTC) on February 22, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had issued a convective outlook for day one indicating a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes over portions of North and Central Florida.
EST (16:55 UTC), the NWS in Melbourne also issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook (HWO) highlighting a "significant" threat of tornadoes, hail, and destructive winds.
It lifted over the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area, 8 mi (13 km) east-southeast of Christmas, west of Port St. John—just before the Great Outdoors RV Park, which, according to the NWS, was "one of the largest in the United States, housing 1,000 recreational vehicle lots."