EF0 tornado, Palatka Kay Arkin Ar to Luraville, Florida, August 23, 2008

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

August 23, 2008

Touchdown

5:53 PM EDT (21:53 UTC)

Lifted

6:01 PM EDT (22:01 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

3.7 miles (6.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Putnam County

Touchdown point

29.660, -81.660

Lift-off point

29.710, -81.637

Record number

0808231553-01

Tropical Storm Fay moved slowly north out of Caribbean Sea, then cut across south and central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. Fay then slowly curved west and made landfall in the vicinity for Flagler Beach and Daytona Beach on Aug 21st. As the storm made landfall sustained winds along the coast were between 40 and 50 mph with gusts in the 60 to 65 mph range. Storm Surge ranged from 2 to 4 feet along the open coast and about 1 to 2 feet on the St Johns River. Storm Surge Flooding occurred on the St Johns River on Thursday night August 21-22 in the Palatka area of Putnam County as northeasterly winds created a seiche effect driving river water southward. On Friday morning August 22nd the winds became more southeasterly along the river and river water was driven north in the San Marco and Riverside areas of Downtown Jacksonville flooding roadways and some structures. River water depths of 4 to 6 inches flooded the Park Lane Condominium in Riverside. A Ford Bronco in the street outside of the condo floated in the river water a short distance into Memorial Park. Flash flooding occurred on McCoys Creek on Thursday night and Moncrief Creek on Friday. Both creeks are in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. Several vehicles were stranded at Kings Road and McCoys Creek Blvd including one vehicle up to its roof. Areal flooding occurred over much of northeast Florida with roads and small creeks flooded. Minor flooding of structures occurred across the area. Numerous trees and power lines were downed with minor structural damage. High surf and beach erosion threatened five homes on the 3850 block of S Ponte Vedra Blvd in Vilano Beach, Florida. Several minor tornado touchdowns occurred in the area with no significant damage or injuries. Many north Florida creeks and Rivers experienced fresh water flooding with Black Creek, The St Marys River at McClenny, the St Johns River, south of Palatka, and the Sante Fe River experiencing the most significant flooding.

A Seminole Electric employee reported a tornado near 870 North Highway 17 moving north toward Bostwick. This was possibly a waterspout moving inland off the river. At 1647 EDT the public reported a tornado on the ground near West River Road and Mink Road. The parent thunderstorm was moving north along U.S. Highway 17 toward the Bostwick area.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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 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 Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:52 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.