Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2007

EF0 tornado, Monticello, Florida, March 2, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 2.3 miles across Jefferson County on March 2, 2007, touching down at 2:10 AM EST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

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 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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
EF0
Date
March 2, 2007
Touchdown
2:10 AM EST (07:10 UTC)
Lifted
2:16 AM EST (07:16 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
2.3 miles (3.7 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Jefferson County
Touchdown point
30.530, -83.836
Lift-off point
30.552, -83.808
Record number
0703020110-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A squall line of severe thunderstorms produced numerous reports of wind damage and isolated tornadoes across the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend from the late evening hours of March 1 into the predawn hours of March 2.

An EF-0 tornado spun up quickly along the leading edge of the squall line a few miles east of Monticello. The tornado uprooted trees with minor roof damage to one structure before it lifted several minutes later.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:10 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:35 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:45 UTC and running to 09:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:50 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WatchTAE
01:45 UTC09:00 UTCTornado WatchTAE
06:36 UTC07:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
07:10 UTC07:35 UTCTornado WarningTAE
19:20 UTC23:00 UTCRed Flag WarningTAE

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:40 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), 00:00Z

7.2 hours before the tornado, 48 km from the path. March 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-03-02Temperature 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 0, lifted condensation level 0 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-03-02The 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 362 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 81 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
825 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
0 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
81 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
362 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
444 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
12.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

4.8 hours after it, 48 km from the path. March 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-03-02Temperature 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 -89165, lifted condensation level 1050 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-03-02The 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 80 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-89165 J/kg
Surface CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1050 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
80 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-205 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tallahassee Regional (TLH), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
05:36 UTC73.469.8190° 16 kt271002.4-RA
05:43 UTC73.469.8210° 15 kt261003-RA
05:53 UTC7369200° 20 kt271002.4-TSRA
06:38 UTC71.668280° 31 kt391005.1TSRA FG
06:44 UTC64.462.6300° 24 kt391005.8+TSRA FG
06:53 UTC5956320° 16 kt271005.4+TSRA BR
07:00 UTC5955.4310° 8 kt1006.1+TSRA BR
07:13 UTC5957.2300° 4 kt1006.1-TSRA
07:36 UTC5955.4320° 6 kt1006.4
07:53 UTC6056330° 6 kt1005.8
08:53 UTC6055290° 7 kt1007.1

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

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:09 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
06:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S TallahasseeLeon, FLONE TREE DOWN. POWER OUTAGE.
06:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGHavanaGadsden, FLNUMEROUS TREES REPORTED DOWN AROUND HAVANA.
06:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw TallahasseeLeon, FLNUMEROUS TREES DOWN IN LAKESIDE SUBDIVISION NEAR LAKE JACKSON. WINDS ESTIMATED 50 TO 60 MPH.
07:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E MonticelloJefferson, FLPOSSIBLE TORNADO. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN JUST EAST OF MONTICELLO. WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES REPORTED ACROSS THE NORTH PART OF THE COUNTY. COUNTY EOC IS ON GENERATOR POWER.
07:30 UTCTORNADOCherry LakeMadison, FLBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN NEAR CHERRY LAKE. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALL AROUND COUNTY ROAD 471.

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 March 2, 2007

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 22:20 AM ESTEF0Aiken, SC4.980
March 22:36 AM ESTEF1Madison, FL3.050$5,000
March 22:55 AM ESTEF0Lowndes, GA2.050$10,000
March 24:00 AM ESTEF0Suwannee, FL0.1100$10,000
March 25:25 AM ESTEF0Nassau, FL1.2100$30,000
March 28:40 AM ESTEF0Carteret, NC0.110$1,000

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.