At Least Two Tornadoes Touch Down in Western Florida Overnight

People in western Florida were urged to brace for another day of severe weather on Thursday after two tornadoes touched down overnight, National Weather Service officials said.

“We’re expecting another round of potentially damaging winds and isolated tornadoes again in the Tampa Bay area and north,” said Stephen Shiveley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. A severe weather threat was in effect for the area, with weather expected to improve by the evening, he added.

The severe weather, which struck the Tampa Bay area and north of Tampa around 2 a.m. on Thursday, damaged two houses but caused no injuries, the police in Clearwater, Fla., said in a post on Facebook. Citrus County School District closed its schools for the day, and about 16,000 customers in Florida were briefly without power, according to the website poweroutage.us.

A tornado watch was in place for Northern and Central Florida until 3 p.m. on Thursday, the Weather Service said. In Melbourne, Fla., in eastern Florida, the storm’s biggest threat was winds of 50 miles per hour, the Weather Service said.

John Pendergrast, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Fla., said that he expected weather conditions to be better by sunset.