Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2009
EF0 tornado, Mossy Head, Florida, March 27, 2009
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Walton County on March 27, 2009, touching down at 6:37 AM CDT 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.
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 27, 2009
- Touchdown
- 6:37 AM CDT (11:37 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:38 AM CDT (11:38 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Walton County
- Touchdown point
- 30.732, -86.338
- Lift-off point
- 30.734, -86.337
- Record number
- 0903270537-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A line of severe thunderstorms produced numerous reports of damaging winds and a few weak tornadoes across the Panhandle during the morning of the 27th.
A weak tornado briefly touched down near Interstate 10 mile marker 74 just west of Mossy Head. It uprooted numerous trees, which closed several lanes. No traffic accidents or injuries were reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
12 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:25 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:02 UTC and running to 13:02 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:02 UTC | 13:02 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 11:25 UTC | 12:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 11:55 UTC | 12:13 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
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 05:58 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 surface observations
Crestview/Bob Sikes (CEW), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:53 UTC | 70 | 68 | 140° 13 kt | 20 | 1005.4 | -RA |
| 10:29 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 180° 13 kt | 23 | 1006.4 | -RA BR |
| 10:47 UTC | 69.8 | 68 | 180° 10 kt | 18 | 1006.8 | VCTS RA BR |
| 10:53 UTC | 70 | 68 | 190° 13 kt | 19 | 1006.8 | VCTS RA BR |
| 11:16 UTC | 69.8 | 66.2 | 250° 23 kt | 31 | 1008.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 11:22 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 240° 13 kt | 31 | 1008.8 | +TSRA BR |
| 11:29 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 6 kt | 25 | 1007.1 | +TSRA FG |
| 11:36 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 3 kt | 1007.1 | +TSRA BR | |
| 11:41 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 150° 3 kt | 1007.1 | +TSRA BR | |
| 11:44 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 120° 6 kt | 1007.1 | TSRA BR | |
| 11:53 UTC | 61 | 61 | 130° 4 kt | 1006.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 12:04 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 130° 5 kt | 1006.4 | TSRA BR | |
| 12:19 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 160° 7 kt | 1006.4 | VCTS RA BR | |
| 12:26 UTC | 62.6 | 60.8 | 150° 9 kt | 16 | 1007.1 | VCTS RA BR |
| 12:42 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 160° 6 kt | 1006.8 | +TSRA BR | |
| 12:53 UTC | 61 | 60 | 6 kt | 1006.4 | +TSRA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:37 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:37 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sw Mossy Head | Walton, FL | POSSIBLE TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE 10 NEAR MILE MARKER 74. MULTIPLE TREES DOWN WITH LANES CLOSED. |
| 12:07 UTC | TORNADO | Leonia | Holmes, FL | POSSIBLE TORNADO. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. |
| 12:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 W New Hope | Holmes, FL | POSSIBLE TORNADO. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A BARN ON VAUGHN DEAD RIVER ROAD. |
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 March 27, 2009
17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 27 | 1:30 AM CDT | EF1 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 0.3 | 150 | $15,000 | ||
| March 27 | 1:45 AM CDT | EF1 | Hancock, MS | 7.0 | 200 | $20,000 | ||
| March 27 | 8:20 AM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, FL | 0.2 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| March 27 | 4:32 PM EDT | EF0 | Robeson, NC | 2.3 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| March 27 | 5:02 PM EDT | EF2 | Robeson, NC | 2.0 | 50 | 1 | $35,000 | |
| March 27 | 4:10 PM CDT | EF0 | Rapides Parish, LA | 2.6 | 25 | $25,000 | ||
| March 27 | 5:13 PM EDT | EF1 | Cumberland, NC | 4.8 | 50 | $225,000 | ||
| March 27 | 4:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Liberty, TX | 0.1 | 15 | $35,000 | ||
| March 27 | 6:05 PM EDT | EF1 | Pitt, NC | 0.8 | 100 | $200,000 | ||
| March 27 | 6:05 PM EDT | EF1 | Greene, NC | 0.7 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| March 27 | 5:12 PM CDT | EF0 | Hardin, TX | 0.0 | 10 | |||
| March 27 | 6:35 PM EDT | EF0 | Sampson, NC | 0.4 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| March 27 | 6:40 PM EDT | EF0 | Sampson, NC | 0.9 | 20 | |||
| March 27 | 6:41 PM EDT | EF0 | Johnston, NC | 2.3 | 20 | |||
| March 27 | 7:20 PM EDT | EF0 | Johnston, NC | 0.3 | 20 | |||
| March 27 | 6:27 PM CDT | EF0 | Adams, MS | 3.5 | 50 | $1,000 | ||
| March 27 | 10:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Ouachita Parish, LA | 1.6 | 75 | $5,000 |
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.