Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Florida, January 9, 2024

Name: Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Florida, January 9, 2024
Start: 2024-01-09T16:00
End: 2024-01-09T17:13
Location: Florida

January 9, 2024 · NWS TBW · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

S. and Mid-Atlantic produced tornadoes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, along with damaging straight-line winds in Sarasota County.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $285,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TBW wrote it up.

A prefrontal squall line ahead of a cold front over the eastern Gulf of Mexico extending south from an area of low pressure moving across the southeast U.S. and Mid-Atlantic produced tornadoes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, along with damaging straight-line winds in Sarasota County.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 9, 3:08 PM EST, 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 9, 3:08 PM EST, 52 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
308 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

...New DISCUSSION, AVIATION, MARINE, FIRE WEATHER...

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 211 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

Squall line continuing to advance eastward across the region with
gusty southerly winds out ahead of it. This line will exit the
forecast area later this evening with a few showers behind it.
Winds will diminish and shift to northwest overnight as the cold
front moves through with cooler drier air returning for midweek.

Our next storm system approaches late in the week with a warm
front lifting north Thursday and Thursday night leading to more
clouds and some showers. During Friday the cold front associated
with this system will approach with gusty southerly winds bringing
warm moist air back north again. Cold front will move across the
area Friday night preceded by another line of convection. Overall
pattern is similar to todays event, but not looking quite as
strong at this time.

Cooler drier air returns for the weekend and then we'll do it all
again late Monday through Tuesday as another storm system develops
and moves across the southeast states.

&&

.AVIATION...
(18Z TAFS)
Issued at 211 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

Showers and thunderstorms will move across the TAF sites during
the mid to late afternoon and evening hours causing some IFR/local
LIFR conditions along with the possibility of some strong wind
gusts up to 50 knots. Convection moves out by midnight tonight
with VFR conditions returning and west to northwest winds
diminishing to around 10 knots for the rest of the TAF period.

&&

.MARINE...
Issued at 211 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

The line of thunderstorms will move across the waters this
afternoon and evening. Gusty southerly winds will continue ahead
of the line then to westerly and northwesterly behind it tonight.
A Gale Warning remains in effect for all zones into this evening
followed by Small Craft Advisory tonight into tomorrow. Elevated
winds will diminish on Wednesday, with seas diminishing during
midweek. High surf risk and high risk of rip currents will remain
at least until Thursday morning.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 211 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

The line of showers and thunderstorms will exit the region early
tonight with cooler drier air building back in for midweek. The next
system will approach late in the week with more showers and possibly
a few thunderstorms returning. After this afternoon there are no
additional fire weather concerns as winds will diminish and minimum
relative humidity values will remain above critical levels.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TPA  55  63  51  65 /  40   0   0  20
FMY  58  70  55  70 /  90   0   0  30
GIF  51  66  47  65 /  70   0   0  20
SRQ  57  66  51  68 /  60   0   0  30
BKV  49  64  44  67 /  30   0   0  20
SPG  56  61  54  64 /  50   0   0  30

&&

.TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...Wind Advisory until 7 PM EST this evening for Coastal Charlotte-
     Coastal Citrus-Coastal Hernando-Coastal Hillsborough-
     Coastal Lee-Coastal Levy-Coastal Manatee-Coastal Pasco-
     Coastal Sarasota-DeSoto-Hardee-Highlands-Inland Charlotte-
     Inland Citrus-Inland Hernando-Inland Hillsborough-Inland
     Lee-Inland Levy-Inland Manatee-Inland Pasco-Inland Sarasota-
     Pinellas-Polk-Sumter.

     Coastal Flood Warning until 7 AM EST Wednesday for Coastal
     Citrus-Coastal Hernando-Coastal Hillsborough-Coastal Levy-
     Coastal Manatee-Coastal Pasco-Coastal Sarasota-Pinellas.

     High Rip Current Risk through Thursday morning for Coastal
     Charlotte-Coastal Hillsborough-Coastal Lee-Coastal Manatee-
     Coastal Sarasota-Pinellas.

     High Surf Advisory until 7 AM EST Thursday for Coastal Charlotte-
     Coastal Hillsborough-Coastal Lee-Coastal Manatee-Coastal
     Sarasota-Pinellas.

Gulf waters...Gale Warning until 7 PM EST this evening for
     Charlotte Harbor and Pine Island Sound-Coastal waters from
     Bonita Beach to Englewood FL out 20 NM-Coastal waters from
     Englewood to Tarpon Springs FL out 20 NM-Coastal waters from
     Tarpon Springs to Suwannee River FL out 20 NM-Tampa Bay waters-
     Waters from Bonita Beach to Englewood FL out 20 to 60 NM-
     Waters from Englewood to Tarpon Springs FL out 20 to 60 NM-
     Waters from Tarpon Springs to Suwannee River FL out 20 to
     60 NM.

     Small Craft Advisory from 7 PM this evening to 1 PM EST
     Wednesday for Coastal waters from Englewood to Tarpon
     Springs FL out 20 NM-Coastal waters from Tarpon Springs to
     Suwannee River FL out 20 NM-Tampa Bay waters-Waters from
     Bonita Beach to Englewood FL out 20 to 60 NM-Waters from
     Englewood to Tarpon Springs FL out 20 to 60 NM-Waters from
     Tarpon Springs to Suwannee River FL out 20 to 60 NM.

&&

Close

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 9, 1:15 PM EST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
115 PM EST Tue Jan 9 2024

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1210 PM     Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 N Highpoint           27.92N 82.71W
01/09/2024  M60 MPH          Pinellas           FL   Mesonet

            Mesonet station 1446W Largo Fire Rescue
            Station 40.

&&

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Hillsborough

When: January 9, 4:00 PM EST to 4:02 PM EST
Where: Hillsborough County, 4.12 mi WSW of Cosme to 3.55 mi WSW of Cosme
Rating: EF1
Path length: 0.58 mi
Path width: 75 yd
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 28.106, -82.646

A EF-1 tornado with maximum estimated winds of 90 mph tracked across The Eagles Golf Club northwest of Westchase, from just west of Birkdale Drive, across Nine Eagles Drive, Byrnwyck Lane and Benty Way, before lifting just west of Eagle Oak Drive. The most notable structural damage observed was the detachment/collapse of several pool cages backing up to the golf course. Additional roof and tree damage was noted, however, this appeared to be associated with inflow and/or an eventual microburst with a uniform direction to the damage. Along the path, there were a couple pockets of EF-1 damage. However, most of the surveyed damage was EF-0.

Tornado, Pinellas

When: January 9, 4:23 PM EST to 4:24 PM EST
Where: Pinellas County, 0.79 mi SW of Saint Petersburg Ports Site
Rating: EF0
Path length: 0.01 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 27.753, -82.640

A very brief EF-0 tornado with maximum estimated winds of around 80 mph produced minor roof damage to a structure in Saint Petersburg just north of 18th Avenue between 5th and 6th Street. Just west of the building were parked cars, trees, and a telephone pole with no damage. However, roof covering material was found deposited in this area. No other visible damage could be found in the vicinity.

Thunderstorm Wind, Sarasota

When: January 9, 5:09 PM EST to 5:13 PM EST
Where: Sarasota County, 1.85 mi NNE of Belspur to 3.08 mi NE of Belspur
Measured: 65 kt (75 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey
Coordinates: 27.345, -82.438

Several communities just north of Fruitville Road in the Sarasota area experienced a significant straight-line wind event with maximum estimated winds around 75 mph. The swath of damage, with a maximum width of around 370 yards, began near the intersection of Richardson Road and Fox Creek Drive and extended northeast for just under 1.5 miles before ending just northeast of the intersection of Racimo Drive and Duke Drive. The primary damage was to trees, but several structures towards the end of the path received mostly minor damage, mainly to siding.

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2024 Every state in 2024 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Florida, 2024 Warnings in Florida, January 2024

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1149963, 1149965, 1149972.