F1 tornado, Gonzalez, Florida, April 24, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F1

Date

April 24, 2000

Touchdown

5:35 AM CDT (10:35 UTC)

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

County

Escambia County

Touchdown point

30.580, -87.300

Lift-off point

30.580, -87.300

Record number

159

It was determined from a National Weather Service Storm Survey that a weak F1 tornado struck the Gonzalez community just East of US Highway 29. The first touchdown was near Old Chemstrand Road and Golden Rod Road where some trees and a county road tower were damaged. The tornado tracked northeast near tree top level across Wyman Lane where trees were blown down. The tornado continued moving northeast and crossed Water Oaks Trail where it went back into the cloud just east of Water Oaks. This is where the most structural damage occurred. Seven or eight homes suffered roof damage and a couple of homes had porches blown off . One home had the back porch picked up and blown about 300 yards into another home across the street. Some asphalt was also ripped up out of the street and blown into a home. No injuries were reported.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:01 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.