Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2007

EF1 tornado, Saint Johns County, Florida, April 15, 2007

This EF1 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Saint Johns County on April 15, 2007, touching down at 10:10 AM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF1
Date
April 15, 2007
Touchdown
10:10 AM EDT (14:10 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Saint Johns County
Touchdown point
29.720, -81.240
Lift-off point
29.720, -81.240
Record number
0704150810-01

The warnings

2 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:08 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:20 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:51 UTC14:18 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
14:08 UTC14:20 UTCTornado WarningJAX

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 12:32 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.

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

2.2 hours before the tornado, 97 km from the path. April 15, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-04-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 626 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 630 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, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-04-15The 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 421 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 71 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
626 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
816 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
630 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
71 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
421 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
496 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.7
Supercell composite
7.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

9.8 hours after it, 97 km from the path. April 16, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-04-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -30844, lifted condensation level 1540 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-04-16The 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 102 knots.1939587897117136156Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30844 J/kg
Surface CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1540 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
102 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
59 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 radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:09 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
13:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S BostwickPutnam, FLTREES DOWN ALONG RURAL ROAD OFF US HIGHWAY 17 SOUTH OF BOSTWICK. REPORTED BY 911 DISPATCH.
13:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 W PalatkaPutnam, FLTREES DOWN ALONG STATE ROAD 100 IN BARDIN WEST OF PALATKA. REPORTED BY 911 DISPATCH.
14:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W PalatkaPutnam, FLTREES AND POWERLINES DOWN.
14:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 N PalatkaPutnam, FLTREES AND POWERLINES DOWN.
14:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Ne PalatkaPutnam, FLSHED BLOWN OVER AND TREE ON VEHICLE AT BRIDGEPORT AND WEST RIVER ROAD INTERSECTION.
14:10 UTCTORNADO 11 S Crescent BeachSt. Johns, FLTHE PUBLIC REPORTED VISUAL CONFIRMATION OF A TORNADIC WATERSPOUT AT 1010 AM OVER THE INTERCOASTAL WATERWAY APPROXIMATELY 1 MILE SOUTH OF CRESCENT BEACH. APPROXIMATE TORNADO PATH LENGTH 100 YDS AND WIDTH 50 YDS. AFTER THE
14:10 UTCTORNADO1 S Crescent BeachSt. Johns, FLTHE PUBLIC REPORTED VISUAL CONFIRMATION OF A TORNADIC WATERSPOUT AT 1010 AM OVER THE INTERCOASTAL WATERWAY APPROXIMATELY 1 MILE SOUTH OF CRESCENT BEACH. THE OBSERVER WATCHED THE TORNADO FOR ONLY A FEW SECONDS OVER THE IN
14:12 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S Crescent BeachSt. Johns, FLPOWER LINES DOWN ALONG A1A JUST SOUTH OF SR 26 AND JUST NORTH OF FORT MANTANZAS. PERSON TRAPPED IN CAR BY DOWN POWER LINES. MORE DAMAGE REPORTS PENDING.
14:12 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S Crescent BeachSt. Johns, FLUPDATE OF PRIOR REPORT. NO INJURIES FROM DOWN POWER LINES. SLIGHT ROOF DAMAGE TO SOME BULDINGS SOUTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF SR 206 AND A1A.
14:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 50Palm CoastFlagler, FLESTIMATED 45 TO 50 MPH WIND GUSTS. WIDESPREAD POWER FLUCTUATIONS OR OUTAGES. YARD FURNITURE BLOWN AROUND.
14:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W Palm CoastFlagler, FLPRIMARY FPL ELECTRIC FEEDER DAMAGED BY WIND. POWER OUTAGES S AND W OF PALM COAST.
14:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W Palm CoastFlagler, FL1 TREE DOWN ON BAINBRIDGE LANE. 1 TREE DOWN AT PALM COAST CRACKER BARREL.
14:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 38Flagler BeachFlagler, FL

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 15, 2007

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 152:04 AM EDTEF1Treutlen, GA14.9440$705,000
April 152:05 AM EDTEF1Laurens, GA19.0100$325,000
April 152:56 AM EDTEF2Emanuel, GA5.4200$250,000
April 153:23 AM EDTEF1Worth, GA6.7200$30,000
April 153:27 AM EDTEF1Crisp, GA7.9200$80,000
April 154:25 AM EDTEF2Dodge, GA3.6200$500,000
April 157:15 AM EDTEF2Baker, FL1.5300
April 157:47 AM EDTEF0Bamberg, SC7.650$1,000
April 158:11 AM EDTEF0Bamberg, SC4.250
April 158:20 AM EDTEF3Sumter, SC19.030015
April 158:50 AM EDTEF1Lee, SC3.6200$5,000
April 159:37 AM EDTEF0Orangeburg, SC6.250$1,000
April 159:38 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC1.060$100,000
April 159:41 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC0.530$10,000
April 159:44 AM EDTEF1Colleton, SC2.0809$200,000
April 1512:00 PM EDTEF0Polk, FL2.0300$250,000

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.