Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 52

March 16, 202523 counties in Florida; 11 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 16, 2025, 8:04 AM EDT for 23 counties in Florida; 11 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 9 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 16, 2025, 8:04 AM EDT (12:04 UTC)
Expired
Mar 16, 2025, 5:00 PM EDT
In force
9 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 34 counties

Alachua County, FL, Baker County, FL, Bradford County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Clay County, FL, Columbia County, FL, Dixie County, FL, Duval County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Gilchrist County, FL, Hamilton County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lafayette County, FL, Levy County, FL, Marion County, FL, Nassau County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Putnam County, FL, Saint Johns County, FL, Suwannee County, FL, Union County, FL, Appling County, GA, Bacon County, GA, Brantley County, GA, Camden County, GA, Charlton County, GA, Clinch County, GA, Echols County, GA, Glynn County, GA, Pierce County, GA, Ware County, GA, Wayne County, GA

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:04 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

21 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 16, 8:13 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXBacon, Coffee, Jeff Davis32 min
Mar 16, 8:29 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAppling, Bacon, Coffee, Jeff Davis, Wayne46 min
Mar 16, 8:43 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXAppling, Bacon21 min
Mar 16, 8:56 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAtkinson, Clinch, Coffee, Ware34 min
Mar 16, 9:01 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXAtkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Ware12 min
Mar 16, 9:28 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXClinch, Echols47 min
Mar 16, 9:58 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAEDixie, Lafayette, Taylor47 min
Mar 16, 10:38 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXColumbia, Hamilton, Suwannee37 min
Mar 16, 10:49 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXBrantley, Camden, Charlton, Ware26 min
Mar 16, 11:04 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXBrantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Pierce, Wayne41 min
Mar 16, 11:06 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXBrantley, Camden, Glynn24 min
Mar 16, 11:13 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXBaker, Columbia, Duval, Hamilton, Nassau, Suwannee and 1 more32 min
Mar 16, 11:30 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXGlynn, Wayne30 min
Mar 16, 11:37 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXBaker, Columbia23 min
Mar 16, 11:46 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXBaker, Columbia, Duval, Hamilton, Nassau, Union31 min
Mar 16, 11:56 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAlachua, Gilchrist18 min
Mar 16, 11:57 AM EDTTornado WarningJAXBaker10 min
Mar 16, 2:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAlachua, Clay, Marion, Putnam39 min
Mar 16, 4:19 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWHernando26 min
Mar 16, 4:37 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWCitrus, Hernando23 min
Mar 16, 4:58 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWCitrus, Sumter12 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 37 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2025-03-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 49 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2025-03-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 454 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
49 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-257 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
878 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
454 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
479 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 15, 8:02 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBay, Calhoun, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa and 3 more118 min
Mar 15, 8:47 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBay, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and 2 more8 hr
Mar 16, 1:47 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCalhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and 1 more58 min
Mar 16, 2:18 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCCalhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon and 4 more9 hr
Mar 16, 4:43 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGadsden, Leon, Liberty92 min
Mar 16, 7:28 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist and 5 more92 min
Mar 16, 9:31 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval and 8 more89 min
Mar 16, 11:39 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 9 more96 min
Mar 16, 2:21 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Duval and 10 more84 min
Mar 16, 12:19 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChattahoochee, Harris, Heard, Meriwether, Muscogee, Quitman and 2 more116 min
Mar 16, 5:30 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Bulloch, Effingham, Evans, Screven, Tattnall60 min
Mar 16, 6:12 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCBryan, Bulloch, Candler, Chatham, Effingham, Evans and 6 more8 hr
Mar 16, 4:25 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBurke, Screven95 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2025Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.