Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2008
EF0 tornado, Taylor, Florida, March 7, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Baker County on March 7, 2008, touching down at 10:10 AM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 7, 2008
- Touchdown
- 10:10 AM EST (15:10 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:20 AM EST (15:20 UTC)
- On the ground
- 10 minutes
- Path length
- 1.2 miles (1.9 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- County
- Baker County
- Touchdown point
- 30.422, -82.232
- Lift-off point
- 30.422, -82.213
- Record number
- 0803070910-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A squall line with severe weather and several tornadoes moved across north Florida and southeast Georgia.
A tornado, which was spanned by the same from mesocyclone which moved through Lake City earlier in the day, moved through northeastern Baker County. One brick residence was completely destroyed at 11456 O. C. Horne Road, in Sanderson and a second residence at 20192 Golden Grass Farms Road had tin roof blown. The tornado continued toward the St Marys River but lifted prior to reaching the river. An additional touchdown occurred in Charlton County, Georgia.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
19 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:51 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:47 UTC and running to 17:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:00 UTC | 07:10 UTC | Flood Watch | JAX |
| 11:47 UTC | 17:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | JAX |
| 13:48 UTC | 14:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX |
| 14:39 UTC | 15:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX |
| 14:51 UTC | 15:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAX |
| 15:18 UTC | 15:31 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAX |
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 12:55 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
3.2 hours before the tornado, 51 km from the path. March 7, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 128 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -83 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 599 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 357 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 436 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z
8.8 hours after it, 51 km from the path. March 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -134 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 784 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -176 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -14 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The radar
The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:09 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:45 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 1 Ene Lake City | Columbia, FL | *** 2 FATAL *** ONE DIRECT FATALITY WAS DUE TO TREE DOWN ON MOBILE HOME. FEMALE FATALITY WAS IN MOBILE HOME AT 649 NE GIBBS TERRACE. ONE INDIRECT FATALITY WAS DUE TO A POWER SURGE BUT DETAILS OF LOCATION OF EVENT ARE UNK |
| 14:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 E Taylor | Baker, FL | ONE RESIDENCE WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED AND ONE RESIDENCE HAD TIN ROOF BLOWN OFF DUE TO POSSIBLE TORNADO. LOCATIONS WERE ALONG O.C HORNE ROAD AND GOLDEN GRASS FARMS LANE RESPECTIVELY. |
| 14:15 UTC | TORNADO | 7 Ese Taylor | Baker, FL | A SPOTTER REPORTED A SWATH OF TREES SNAPPED ACROSS A FARM ALONG STATE ROAD 185 NEAR EXIT 5. THERE WERE NUMEROUS PINE TREES SNAPPED OFF ABOUT 8-10 FEET ABOVE GROUND LEVEL AND THE TOPS WERE STREWN ABOUT FARMLAND. LARGE CYP |
| 14:18 UTC | TORNADO | Taylor | Baker, FL | POWER POLES TWISTED AND SNAPPED. ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE. |
| 14:20 UTC | TORNADO | N Sanderson | Baker, FL | BRICK HOME DESTROYED AT 11456 O.C. HORNE RD. |
| 14:25 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Nne St. George | Nassau, FL | MINOR DAMAGE TO OUTHOUSE AND TREES KNOCKED DOWN ALONG RIVER ROAD. |
| 14:25 UTC | TORNADO | Glen St. Mary | Baker, FL | TIN ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE AT 20192 GOLDEN GRASS FARMS LANE. |
| 14:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Lake City | Columbia, FL | A SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED TREES DOWN ON POWER LINES CAUSING POWER OUTAGES IN LAKE CITY. |
| 14:45 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 1 N Lake City | Columbia, FL | START OF TORNADO TRACK AT NW STADIUM TERRACE IN WEST HILLSBORO WHERE IT WAS RATED AN EF1. TREES AND BLEACHERS BLOWN DOWN WITH STRUCTUAL HOME DAMAGE. A POWER POLE SNAPPED IN HALF. AN ABANDONED METAL WAREHOUSE RIPPED APART |
| 14:45 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 1 Ene Lake City | Columbia, FL | *** 2 FATAL *** ONE DIRECT FATALITY WAS DUE TO TREE DOWN ON MOBILE HOME. FEMALE FATALITY WAS IN MOBILE HOME AT 649 NE GIBBS TERRACE. ONE INDIRECT FATALITY WAS DUE TO A POWER SURGE BUT DETAILS OF LOCATION OF EVENT ARE UNK |
| 14:45 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 1 Ene Lake City | Columbia, FL | A NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM HAS DETERMINED EF2 TORNADO DAMAGE IN LAKE CITY. PRELIMINARY REPORTS INDICATE THAT THE VORTEX WAS A QUARTER MILE WIDE AND TRAVELED AROUND A HALF MILE ON THE GROUND. HOMES WERE UN-ROOFED AND EXTERIO |
| 14:45 UTC | TORNADO | Lake City | Columbia, FL | A NWS STORM SURVEY TEAM IS ASSESSING SIGNIFICANT TORNADO DAMAGE IN LAKE CITY. AN ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE MAGNITUDE HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED YET. INITIAL SURVEY REPORTS INCLUDE ABOUT 20 HOMES WITH SIGNIFICANT STRUCTURAL DAMA |
| 14:50 UTC | TORNADO | N Lake City | Columbia, FL | WIDESPREAD DAMAGE NORTH SIDE OF LAKE CITY. OVERTURNED VEHICLES AND BUILDING DAMAGE. |
| 15:10 UTC | TORNADO | 4 E Taylor | Baker, FL | ONE RESIDENCE WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED AND ONE RESIDENCE HAD TIN ROOF BLOWN OFF DUE TO POSSIBLE TORNADO. LOCATIONS WERE ALONG O.C HORNE ROAD AND GOLDEN GRASS FARMS LANE RESPECTIVELY. |
| 15:18 UTC | TORNADO | Taylor | Baker, FL | POWER POLES TWISTED AND SNAPPED. ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE. |
| 15:20 UTC | TORNADO | N Sanderson | Baker, FL | BRICK HOME DESTROYED AT 11456 O.C. HORNE RD. |
| 15:25 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Nne St. George | Nassau, FL | MINOR DAMAGE TO OUTHOUSE AND TREES KNOCKED DOWN ALONG RIVER ROAD. |
| 15:25 UTC | TORNADO | Glen St. Mary | Baker, FL | TIN ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE AT 20192 GOLDEN GRASS FARMS LANE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of March 7, 2008
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 7 | 7:25 AM EST | EF1 | Leon, FL | 4.6 | 150 | 1 | $750,000 | |
| March 7 | 8:36 AM EST | EF2 | Taylor, FL | 0.4 | 200 | 2 | $500,000 | |
| March 7 | 9:30 AM EST | EF0 | Suwannee, FL | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| March 7 | 9:45 AM EST | EF2 | Columbia, FL | 1.5 | 800 | 1 | 5 | $4.0 million |
| March 7 | 10:20 AM EST | EF1 | Wayne, GA | 0.6 | 200 | $1,000 | ||
| March 7 | 10:20 AM EST | EF1 | Charlton, GA | 5.5 | 100 | |||
| March 7 | 10:27 AM EST | EF0 | Brantley, GA | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| March 7 | 10:30 AM EST | EF0 | Nassau, FL | 0.0 | 100 | |||
| March 7 | 10:57 AM EST | EF0 | McIntosh, GA | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| March 7 | 11:30 AM EST | EF0 | Camden, GA | 0.6 | 100 | |||
| March 7 | 7:25 PM EST | EF1 | Douglas, GA | 7.0 | 100 | 1 | $2.0 million |
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.