Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2009

EF0 tornado, Palm Beach Gardens to Glen Ridge, Florida, March 31, 2009

From Palm Beach Gardens to Glen Ridge, this EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Palm Beach County on March 31, 2009, touching down at 3:30 PM EDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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 31, 2009
Touchdown
3:30 PM EDT (19:30 UTC)
Lifted
3:35 PM EDT (19:35 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$75,000
County
Palm Beach County
Touchdown point
26.835, -80.110
Lift-off point
26.826, -80.106
Record number
0903311330-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A warm front lifted north through South Florida during the day of March 31. Unstable air south of the front combined with warm temperatures combined to produced strong and severe thunderstorms over Palm Beach County. A total of about 5,000 customers lost power.

A tornado touched down in Palm Beach Gardens in the Ballenisles Golf Country Club near Holly and Seagrape Drives. The tornado moved southeast, moving across Military Trail and Lilac Street, and lifted near Palm Beach Gardens High School. Minor roof damage was noted to a few residential buildings, as well as trees uprooted and a fence blown over near Palm Beach Gardens High School. Final tornado rating was EF0 based on Emergency Manager survey and analysis of damage photos.

A second tornado touchdown occurred in West Palm Beach near Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and Australian Avenue. This is the same storm that produced the tornado in Palm Beach Gardens, but eyewitness reports and photographs indicate a likely second tornado touchdown in the West Palm Beach area. Damage was minor (EF0) consisting of downed traffic signals, tree branches broken off, and a bus bench flipped over.

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

The warnings

18 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:12 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:05 UTC20:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryMFL
18:33 UTC20:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryMFL
18:44 UTC20:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryMFL
19:12 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningMFL
19:44 UTC20:24 UTCTornado WarningMFL
20:17 UTC21:26 UTCFlood AdvisoryMFL
20:46 UTC23:30 UTCFlood WarningMFL
21:56 UTC22:17 UTCFlood AdvisoryMFL

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 16:32 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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. March 31, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2009-03-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1332 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 607 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2009-03-31The 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 39 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1332 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1010 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 114 km from the path. April 1, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2009-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 206 joules per kilogram, CIN -97, lifted condensation level 1168 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2009-04-01The 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 56 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-97 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1168 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

West Palm Beach (DJT), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
17:53 UTC8570140° 16 kt1015.2
18:53 UTC8571140° 16 kt1014.2
19:53 UTC7967350° 11 kt191014.6TS
20:03 UTC73.462.6350° 15 kt231014.2TS
20:42 UTC71.666.260° 18 kt251014.2TSRA SQ
20:53 UTC736570° 17 kt241014.2-TSRA
21:09 UTC75.266.2100° 17 kt231013.9-RA

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

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:31 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
19:30 UTCHEAVY RAIN 0Palm Beach GardensPalm Beach, FLROADS FLOODED BETWEEN BEELINE AND 595. HAIL REPORTED NEAR PALM BEACH GARDENS. POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN BETWEEN LILAC AND MILITARY TRAIL. TREES DOWN IN THE INTERSECTION OF DONALD ROSS ROAD AND A1A.
19:30 UTCTORNADO 0Palm Beach GardensPalm Beach, FLPICTURES SENT TO NWS BY MEDIA SHOW EVIDENCE OF SMALL TORNADO NEAR THE TIME THE CIRCULATION WAS EVIDENT IN TPBI TDWR IN THE VICINITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS. THIS COINCIDE ALSO WITH REAL TIME REPORTS RECEIVED BY TRAINED SPO
19:50 UTCHEAVY RAIN 4.35Boca RatonPalm Beach, FLTRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED 4.35 INCHES OF RAIN AT WEST BOCA RATON.
20:52 UTCFLOODPalm Beach GardensPalm Beach, FLFLORIDA HIWAY PATROL INDICATED FLOODING ACROSS PORTIONS OF PALM BEACH GARDENS AND SURROUNDING AREAS. FLOODED AREAS INCLUDE THE INTERSECTION OF RIVERSIDE DRIVE AND PEARL STREET AND THE INTERSECTION OF P.G.A. BLVD. AND U.S
21:19 UTCHEAVY RAIN 4Palm Beach GardensPalm Beach, FLPUBLIC REPORTED APPROXIMATELY 4 INCHES OF RAIN BETWEEN 300PM AND 345PM.

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 31, 2009

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 318:31 AM CDTEF1Natchitoches Parish, LA8.3200$1.3 million
March 313:50 PM EDTEF0Palm Beach, FL0.3100$25,000
March 316:12 PM EDTEF0Colquitt, GA0.125
March 318:40 PM EDTEF1Madison, FL0.550
March 318:45 PM EDTEF1Suwannee, FL2.2200$750,000

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.