Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2004
F1 tornado, Port Charlotte, Florida, August 13, 2004
This F1 tornado ran 2.5 miles across Charlotte County on August 13, 2004, touching down at 4:15 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- August 13, 2004
- Touchdown
- 4:15 PM EDT (20:15 UTC)
- Path length
- 2.5 miles (4.0 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Charlotte County
- Touchdown point
- 27.000, -82.070
- Lift-off point
- 26.970, -82.100
- Record number
- 386
What the Weather Service recorded
A tornado associated with the north side of the eyewall of Hurricane Charley intensified the damage to homes near the intersections of Gibbralter Drive and Conway Blvd. to Olean Blvd. and Starlite Lane.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:54 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, 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 tornado touched down at Aug 13, 3:54 PM EDT, 21 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 3:54 PM EDT, 21 minutes before
WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 354 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 .DISCUSSION...EXTREMELY BUSY THIS AFTERNOON SO WILL MAKE THIS BRIEF. MAJOR HURRICANE CHARLEY CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTH-NORTHEAST LATE THIS AFTERNOON. SEE THE LATEST ADVISORIES ON CHARLEY FROM NHC. EXPECT HURRICANE CONDITIONS TO BEGIN TO IMPACT THE CWA THROUGH TONIGHT AS CHARLEY MOVES N-NEWD AND INLAND OVER CENTRAL FLORIDA. MAY MAKE SOME LAST MINUTE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE ZONES AND COASTAL AFTER THE 4 PM NHC CONFERENCE CALL...OTHERWISE WILL LEAVE PRODUCTS AS IS...AS I WILL BE DEALING WITH WARNINGS. WITH EXPECTED HEAVY RAINS...I MAY NEED TO EXTEND THE FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SATURDAY AS WELL AND WILL MAKE A DECISION ON THIS BY THIS EVENING. ON SATURDAY WE SHOULD SEE SOME IMPROVEMENTS BUT IT CONTINUE QUITE WINDY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN...SOME LOCALLY HEAVY. ALL RESIDENTS OF WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST SHOULD REFER TO LOCAL STATEMENTS AND ADVISORIES FROM WFO TAMPA BAY AND THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON HURRICANE CHARLEY. && .TBW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HURRICANE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 60NM INCLUDING THE COUNTIES OF LEVY...CITRUS...HERNANDO...PASCO... PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...MANATEE...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE... DESOTO...AND LEE. INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING FOR SUMTER...POLK...HARDEE AND HIGHLANDS COUNTIES. TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 5 PM TODAY FOR PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...POLK... MANATEE...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE AND LEE COUNTIES. FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH SATURDAY FOR LEVY...CITRUS...SUMTER... HERNANDO...PASCO...PINELLAS...HILLSBOROUGH...POLK...MANATEE... SARASOTA...HARDEE...DESOTO...HIGHLANDS...CHARLOTTE...AND LEE COUNTIES SHORT TERM...JCM LONG TERM...RD
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 13, 6:34 AM EDT, 9 hours 41 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 634 AM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-131520- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 634 AM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA. ...HURRICANE CHARLEY HEADED FOR THE SUNCOAST TODAY... ...HURRICANE WARNING ARE IN EFFECT FROM BONITA BEACH TO SUWANNEE RIVER INCLUDING TAMPA BAY... .DAY ONE...TODAY: ...SYNOPSIS... HURRICANE CHARLEY WILL CONTINUE MOVING NORTH TOWARD THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA AND IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY HAZARDS FROM THIS STORM WILL BE WIND DAMAGE...AS WELL AS STORM SURGE OVER AND SOUTH OF WHERE CHARLEY MAKES LANDFALL. HEAVY RAINS AND FLOODING REMAIN A SECONDARY HAZARD...BUT THE SPEED OF THE STORM SHOULD LIMIT THE EXTENT AND AMOUNT OF HEAVY RAINS ON THE SUNCOAST. ...EXPECTED WIND HAZARDS... ON ITS CURRENT TRACK...TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS WILL AFFECT SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE UP THE COAST BY THIS EVENING. SUSTAINED HURRICANE FORCE WINDS AND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE VERY NEAR WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL...ESPECIALLY IN THE EASTERN SEMICIRCLE OF THE STORM. WIDESPREAD MINOR TO MODERATE WIND DAMAGE IS A REAL POSSIBILITY WITH THIS STORM...EVEN WELL INLAND. ...STORM SURGE... THE MOVEMENT OF THE STORM WILL CAUSE THE POTENTIAL FOR A RAPID RISE IN WATER LEVELS ALONG AND TO THE SOUTH OF WHERE THE CENTER CROSSES LAND. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY WHERE EXACTLY THE CENTER WILL CROSS...AS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR THE STORM TO TRACK VERY CLOSE TO THE COAST BEFORE SWINGING INLAND. ...HEAVY RAINS... STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED AND WITH THE GROUND ALREADY SATURATED ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SUNCOAST...ANY ADDITIONAL WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINS COULD EXACERBATE THE FLOOD POTENTIAL ON RAIN SWOLLEN RIVERS AND LOW LYING OR POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY: SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED EACH DAY. THE PRIMARY THREATS FROM STRONGER CELLS WILL BE FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY TODAY AS CHARLEY SWEEPS UP THE SUNCOAST. && FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE) FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION...CHECK OUT HTTP://WWW.NHC.NOAA.GOV PRC
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 13, 1:50 PM EDT, 2 hours 25 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 150 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-GMZ830-850-853-856-140600- CHARLOTTE-CITRUS-DE SOTO-HARDEE-HERNANDO-HIGHLANDS-HILLSBOROUGH-LEE- LEVY-MANATEE-PASCO-PINELLAS-POLK-SARASOTA-SUMTER- 150 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 2004 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 750 IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM EDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PASCO...SUMTER...LEVY...CITRUS...HILLSBOROUGH...SARASOTA... HERNANDO...POLK...HIGHLANDS...HARDEE...DE SOTO...PINELLAS...LEE... CHARLOTTE AND MANATEE COUNTIES. MAJOR HURRICANE CHARLEY IS FORECAST TO MAKE LANDFALL ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. MULTIPLE BANDS OF CONVECTION AHEAD OF THE HURRICANE WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD NORTH AND NORTHWESTWARD ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA THROUGH TONIGHT. INCREASING WIND SHEAR AND INSTABILITY WITHIN THESE BANDS WILL INCREASE THE THREAT OF SMALL FAST MOVING TORNADOES WITHIN THE WATCH AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR UPDATES. && FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TBW (LOWER CASE) JCM
The air that afternoon
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.
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z
8.3 hours before the tornado, 86 km from the path. August 13, 2004.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -62881 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 315 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1607 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -117 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.7 K/km
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z
3.7 hours after it, 86 km from the path. August 14, 2004.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 110 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -61 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 76 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 504 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -66 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 179 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
The surface observations
Punta Gorda (PGD), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:25 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 100° 18 kt | 27 | 1009.8 | -RA |
| 18:53 UTC | 79 | 74 | 100° 21 kt | 31 | 1008.1 | RA |
| 19:10 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 90° 30 kt | 38 | 1006.1 | +RA BR |
| 19:12 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 90° 26 kt | 38 | 1005.8 | +RA BR |
| 19:23 UTC | 77 | 73.4 | 80° 29 kt | 42 | 1003.7 | RA BR |
| 19:46 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 90° 36 kt | 47 | 999.7 | +RA BR |
| 19:53 UTC | 76 | 73 | 997.6 | |||
| 20:08 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 100° 49 kt | 65 | 993.2 | VCTS +RA BR |
| 20:28 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 110° 65 kt | 83 | 978.3 | +TSRA BR |
| 20:32 UTC | 75.2 | 75.2 | 110° 76 kt | 95 | 973.6 | TSRA BR |
| 20:44 UTC | 75.2 | 75.2 | 965.8 | -TSRA BR | ||
| 20:53 UTC | 76 | 972.2 | TS FG | |||
| 21:06 UTC | 75.2 | 987.8 | TS | |||
| 21:31 UTC | 999 | |||||
| 21:53 UTC | 1004.1 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:16 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 13, 2004
17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 13 | 3:55 AM EDT | F2 | Pender, NC | 5.0 | 500 | 3 | 29 | $1.3 million |
| August 13 | 5:11 AM EDT | F0 | Onslow, NC | 0.1 | 30 | $30,000 | ||
| August 13 | 5:53 AM EDT | F1 | Carteret, NC | 0.3 | 20 | 3 | $280,000 | |
| August 13 | 7:00 AM EDT | F1 | Beaufort, NC | 2.0 | 30 | $100,000 | ||
| August 13 | 11:04 AM EDT | F2 | Hendry, FL | 42.0 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| August 13 | 12:05 PM EDT | F0 | Hardee, FL | 2.0 | 30 | |||
| August 13 | 1:00 PM EDT | F0 | Polk, FL | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| August 13 | 1:55 PM EDT | F0 | Polk, FL | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| August 13 | 3:10 PM EDT | F0 | DeSoto, FL | 1.0 | 30 | $10,000 | ||
| August 13 | 3:40 PM EDT | F0 | Lee, FL | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| August 13 | 3:55 PM EDT | F1 | Lee, FL | 1.8 | 100 | |||
| August 13 | 4:30 PM EDT | F0 | Osceola, FL | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| August 13 | 6:30 PM EDT | F0 | Belknap, NH | 7.0 | 40 | |||
| August 13 | 7:26 PM EDT | F1 | Volusia, FL | 0.4 | 40 | |||
| August 13 | 7:40 PM EDT | F0 | Volusia, FL | 30.0 | 20 | 1 | ||
| August 13 | 8:26 PM EDT | F1 | Osceola, FL | 2.0 | 200 | |||
| August 13 | 8:50 PM EDT | F1 | Osceola, FL | 2.0 | 3,000 |
What this means
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.
Sources
NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.