F0 tornado, Martel to Ocala, Florida, March 4, 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 4, 2001

Touchdown

7:20 AM EST (12:20 UTC)

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$80,000

County

Marion County

Touchdown point

29.170, -82.270

Lift-off point

29.200, -82.270

Record number

28

Sixty-one homes were damaged, 44 were manufactured. Fourteen homes were heavily damaged.

Tornado was a weak FO, with some evidence of downburst. Damage was near Northeast 38th Street. Two homes with substantial roof damage, and 19 others with damage.

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 06:06 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 Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 4, 2:30 AM EST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
230 AM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

SURFACE LOW NEAR TUP WITH UPPER SHORT WAVE LIFTING NE ALONG THE MS
RIVER.  CONVECTION OVER SE GA AND NE FL BECOMING MORE E-W ORIENTED
AND WEAKENING AS LIGHTNING HAS DIMINISHED.  SQUALL LINE NEAR TLH
INTO THE GULF WILL BE MOVING ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AS COLD FRONT
NEAR MOB MOVES EAST.  WITH DRY SURGE ALOFT BEHIND CONVECTION AND
DAYTIME HEATING STORMS SHOULD BECOME STRONG AGAIN TODAY OVER MAINLY
THE SE HALF OF THE CWA.  WILL CONTINUE WITH LIKELY POPS TODAY FOR
ALL AREAS AS RAIN WONT END OVER NW CWA UNTIL LATE THIS MORNING.
WINDS WILL REMAIN STRONG INTO TUESDAY AS LOW INTENSIFIES OVER
MID-ATLANTIC STATES.  WIND ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED FOR MONDAY.  MUCH
COLDER AIR STARTS MOVING INTO AREA TONIGHT WITH FREEZE STILL EXECTED
TUESDAY MORNING.

MARINE...WILL CONTINUE SCA FOR WATERS AS WINDS SHOULD REMAIN ABOVE
CRITERIA INTO TUESDAY.  GRAYS REEF NOW JUST REACHING 20 KNOTS.

FIRE...WILL GO WITH FIRE WEATHER WATCH MONDAY AFTERNOON AS RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES DROP TO AROUND 30 PERCENT WITH STRONG NW WINDS.

PRELIM
AMG 72/44/55/29 6200
SSI 78/45/58/32 7100
JAX 79/46/59/31 7100
GNV 80/48/60/31 8000 04

.JAX...
.GA...SCA ALTAMAHA SOUND TO FERNANDINA BCH TO 60NM.
      FIRE WEATHER WATCH OKEFENOKEE MONDAY AFTERNOON.
.FL...SCA FERNANDINA BCH TO FLAGLER BCH TO 60NM.
      FIRE WEATHER WATCH NE FL MONDAY AFTERNOON.
MZ

In the hours before

FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-GAZ132>136-149>154-162>166-041800-

NORTHEAST FLORIDA/SOUTHEAST GEORGIA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
708 AM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR NORTHEASTERN FLORIDA UNTIL 11 AM...

A SQUALL LINE WILL PRODUCE NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS IT
MOVES ACROSS NORTHEASTERN FLORIDA THIS MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON.

A COLD FRONT COULD ALSO TRIGGER A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS IT
MOVES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST GEORGIA/NORTHEAST FLORIDA AREA THIS
AFTERNOON.

THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS
AND HAIL. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION
OR RADIO STATIONS...OR YOUR CABLE TELEVISION PROVIDER FOR LATER
STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER
THREAT.

AS A RESULT OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...STORM
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS 5MORNING AND EARLY
AFTERNOON.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
JACKSONVILLE WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/JAX.

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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.