F0 tornado, Crystal River to Hernando, Florida, March 29, 2001

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

2. F173 to 112 mph

   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

F0

Date

March 29, 2001

Touchdown

10:10 AM EST (15:10 UTC)

Path length

2.7 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$70,000

County

Citrus County

Touchdown point

28.880, -82.380

Lift-off point

28.920, -82.350

Record number

60

National Weather Service damage survey indicated that a high end F0 tornado, that averaged 50 yards in width, touched down and caused heavy roof damage to a mobile home along West Jennifer Court, east of County Road 495. The tornado continued northeast and sporadically touched down on North Fairport Avenue near West Dunklin Street where minor to moderate damage occurred to rooftops, sheds and lanais, including several downed pines trees and large branches. Also, the tornadic winds rolled over one mobile home along the 4500 block of North Fairport near West Dunklin Street.The tornado continued northeast and caused sporadic damage to mainly roof tiles, shingles, lanais and trees in and along the Citrus Springs Country Club. The tornado downed a few additional trees and large branches near County Road 39 and North Perkins Path before it lifted and dissipated.

Citrus county emergency management reported that a F0 tornado initially touched down near East Bryant Street and North Croft Avenue, two miles south-southwest of Hernando, and sporadically touched down as it moved northeast across mixed residential neighborhoods near U.S. Highway 41. The tornado continued northeast, then lifted and dissipated near East Parson Point Road, one mile east of Hernando. The tornado caused mainly minor damage to roof tiles, awnings, sheds, lanais of homes and toppled a few trees along its narrow path. A woman was injured from shattered glass when wind blown debris broke her vehicle's windshield along North Croft Avenue.

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

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 13:17 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.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 29, 9:25 AM EST, 45 minutes earlier.

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
925 AM EST THU MAR 29 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ISSUED FOR MUCH OF THE AREA...

HAVE SENT AN UPDATE TO THE FORECASTS TO ADD HEADLINE FOR THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH TODAY. THE WATCH IS VALID UNTIL 2 PM THIS
AFTERNOON FROM MANATEE AND POLK COUNTIES NORTHWARD TO LEVY.

A LINE OF STRONE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE EASTERN GULF HAS BEEN
STEADILY MOVING TOWARD THE FA. THE NORTHERN END OF THE LINE IS NOW
HITTING LEVY COUNTY...AND EXPECT IT TO REACH THE PINELLAS COAST
AROUND 10 AM. THE MORNING WIND PROFILE SHOWED STRONG LOW LEVEL
VEERING...WITH SE WINDS AT THE SFC...TO SW WINDS ABOVE. WIND SPEEDS
JUST ABOVE 1K FT WERE 40 TO 45 KTS. SPC EXPECTS THE MAIN THREATS
FROM STORMS TO BE STRAIT LINE WIND GUSTS...BUT 88D SIGNATURES HAVE
BEEN INDICATING THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLD TORNADOES AND WATERSPOUTS.

EXPECT A BUSY MORNING AND WILL MONITOR FORECAST FOR ANY ADDITIONAL
UPDATES THIS MORNING.

MARINE FORECAST WILL BE UPDATED AT 1030 AM...BUT DO NOT ANTICIPATE
ANY BIG CHANGES. WINDS HAVE BEEN 25 TO 30 KTS WELL OFFSHORE...AND
MAY NEED TO BUMP UP A LITTLE FROM TARPON NORTH.

.TBW...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TIL 2 PM FOR LEVY CITRUS HERNANDO
       SUMTER PASCO PINELLAS HILLSBOROUGH POLK MANATEE
      .SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY TODAY BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT
       60NM INCLUDING 6TAMPA BAY.

MORALES

In the hours before

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-291630-

WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
541 AM EST THU MAR 29 2001

...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE...

...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT TODAY FROM BONITA BEACH TO THE
   SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 60 NM INCLUDING TAMPA BAY...

ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...ADEQUATE INSTABILITY...AND AN UPPER
LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE MOVING EAST FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO WILL
RESULT IN NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WEST
CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA TODAY...SOME OF WHICH COULD BECOME
SEVERE.

A LARGE AREA OF RAIN WITH EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE ADJACENT
GULF WATERS EARLY THIS MORNING WILL BEGIN TO MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL
AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BY LATER THIS MORNING...WITH ADDITIONAL SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE AFTERNOON
HOURS. BY TONIGHT ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE ALONG WITH THE
APPROACH OF A MID LEVEL JET WILL HELP TO INCREASE THE COVERAGE AND
INTENSITY OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM ACROSS THE REGION ESPECIALLY
DURING THE LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS.

AT THE PRESENT TIME THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE
STRONG GUSTY WINDS IN EXCESS OF 45 MPH...FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING...
VERY HEAVY RAINS...AND POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL. IN ADDITION STRONG
WINDS IN THE LOWER AND MID LEVEL OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL PROVIDE AN
ENVIRONMENT THAT WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND MARINE WATERSPOUTS ESPECIALLY BY
LATE THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING INTO TONIGHT.

IN ADDITION TO THE THUNDERSTORMS INCREASING SOUTH WINDS OF 20 TO 25
KNOTS WITH HIGHER GUSTS CAN BE EXPECTED OVER THE ADJACENT GULF WATER
THROUGH TONIGHT. THESE STRONG WINDS WILL TO BUILD SEAS OVER THE GULF
AND MAKE BAY AND INLAND WATERWAYS VERY ROUGH. MARINERS SHOULD BE ON
THE LOOKOUT FOR THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOULD SEEK A SAFE HARBOR
IMMEDIATELY IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES. SMALL CRAFT OPERATORS
SHOULD NOT VENTURE FAR FROM PORT TODAY.

ALL RESIDENTS OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA SHOULD REMAIN
ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS TODAY. IF THREATENING
WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION MOVE INDOORS IMMEDIATELY. SKYWARN
SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO RELAY ANY REPORTS OF SEVERE WEATHER TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HERE IN RUSKIN.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND OR WARNINGS SHOULD THEY BECOME NECESSARY.
ANOTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED BY THIS OFFICE LATER
THIS MORNING.

MCMICHAEL


The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Ocala (OCF), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 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.