Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2005

F1 tornado, Crawfordville, Florida, December 5, 2005

This F1 tornado ran 4.0 miles across Wakulla County on December 5, 2005, touching down at 1:10 PM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1.3 million of property damage.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
December 5, 2005
Touchdown
1:10 PM EST (18:10 UTC)
Path length
4.0 miles (6.4 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1.3 million
County
Wakulla County
Touchdown point
30.180, -84.380
Lift-off point
30.220, -84.320
Record number
611

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado touched down just northwest of Crawfordville in the Arran Road area, then traveled northeast across Wakulla Arran Road and the Fox Hollow subdivision, Ivan Church Road, Evergreen Acres, Emerald Acres, to Harry Morrison Road and Elizabeth Street before lifting. Of the 33 structures affected, 26 homes were damaged, two were destroyed, the Ivan Assembly of God Church was damaged, and four businesses along U.S. Highway 319 were damaged. There were several reports of downed trees and power lines. Damage survey provided by a NWS Tallahassee meteorologist, with additional reports by the Wakulla County EMA and Sheriff.

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:14 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 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

6.2 hours before the tornado, 23 km from the path. December 5, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2005-12-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 184 joules per kilogram, CIN -39, lifted condensation level 697 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2005-12-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 205 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
184 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-39 J/kg
Surface CAPE
49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
205 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
214 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

5.8 hours after it, 23 km from the path. December 6, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2005-12-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 73 joules per kilogram, CIN -63, lifted condensation level 526 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2005-12-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -84 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63 J/kg
Surface CAPE
130 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
526 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tallahassee Regional (TLH), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:53 UTC7168200° 8 kt1013.5-RA
17:16 UTC71.668240° 9 kt1013.2+RA BR
17:19 UTC69.866.2250° 8 kt1013.2RA BR
17:53 UTC7168190° 8 kt1012.2RA BR
18:10 UTC71.668200° 9 kt1012.2-RA BR
18:36 UTC71.666.2200° 6 kt1011.2BR
18:53 UTC7166210° 9 kt1011.2
19:32 UTC71.668230° 9 kt1011.5+RA BR
19:38 UTC71.668300° 21 kt271012.5+RA BR
19:53 UTC6766270° 14 kt231012.2+RA BR
20:06 UTC66.262.6280° 10 kt171011.9+RA BR
20:18 UTC66.264.4250° 7 kt1011.9-RA BR
20:39 UTC66.264.4180° 3 kt1011.5-RA

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

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 22 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:09 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:15 UTCTORNADO3 N CrawfordvilleWakulla, FLMULTIPLE REPORTS OF TORNADO SITED NORTH OF CRAWFORDVILLE
18:15 UTCTORNADOCrawfordvilleWakulla, FLPUBLIC REPORTED TREES DOWN ON HOUSES NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF IVAN CHURCH ROAD AND HWY 319
18:40 UTCTORNADO2 Se WoodvilleLeon, FLPUBLIC REPORTED SEEING A TORNADO ON THE GROUND

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 5, 2005

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 511:45 AM ESTF1Worth, GA1.1752$750,000
December 51:40 PM ESTF0Leon, FL0.230
December 52:45 PM ESTF0Lanier, GA0.230
December 53:30 PM ESTF2Clinch, GA3.0100
December 54:30 PM ESTF1Brantley, GA1.575

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.