Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2009

EF0 tornado, Crestview, Florida, December 2, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Okaloosa County on December 2, 2009, touching down at 7:32 AM CST 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 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
December 2, 2009
Touchdown
7:32 AM CST (13:32 UTC)
Lifted
7:34 AM CST (13:34 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Okaloosa County
Touchdown point
30.719, -86.564
Lift-off point
30.719, -86.564
Record number
0912020732-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry.

  • Duke Field Fire department at Eglin Air Force base reported a tornado on the ground.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of thunderstorms produced high winds that damaged trees and power lines. Heavy rain from the thunderstorms also produced flooding across portions of the area.

Duke Field Fire department at Eglin Air Force base reported a tornado on the ground.

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

The warnings

28 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:04 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 09:13 UTC and running to 14:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:00 UTC00:00 UTCWind AdvisoryMOB
00:00 UTC16:59 UTCFlash Flood WatchMOB
09:13 UTC14:50 UTCTornado WatchMOB
11:05 UTC11:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOB
11:09 UTC13:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryMOB
12:54 UTC13:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOB
13:04 UTC13:45 UTCTornado WarningMOB
13:35 UTC15:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningMOB
18:24 UTC04:12 UTCFlood WarningMOB
01:08 UTC00:36 UTCFlood WarningMOB
02:34 UTC09:29 UTCFlood WarningMOB

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 12:43 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
13:32 UTCTORNADO3 Se CrestviewOkaloosa, FLDUKE FIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT AT EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE REPORTS A TORNADO ON THE GROUND.
13:40 UTCFLASH FLOODCrestviewOkaloosa, FLCRESTVIEW FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTED THAT ASHLEY DRIVE AND ANTIOCH ROADS ARE CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING. WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY APPROX. 1 FOOT.
14:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ne CrestviewOkaloosa, FLLARGE TREE DOWN NEAR CRESTVIEW.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 2, 2009

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 21:30 PM ESTEF0Jones, GA1.5100$15,000
December 21:55 PM ESTEF0Putnam, GA1.7100$100,000
December 22:02 PM ESTEF0Putnam, GA0.8100$120,000
December 22:15 PM ESTEF0Coffee, GA3.2100
December 22:45 PM ESTEF1Bacon, GA0.7100$3.0 million
December 23:15 PM ESTEF2Pierce, GA5.14402

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.