Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2011

EF0 tornado, Saint Lucie County, Florida, April 26, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Saint Lucie County on April 26, 2011, touching down at 7:05 PM EDT and reaching 15 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
April 26, 2011
Touchdown
7:05 PM EDT (23:05 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Saint Lucie County
Touchdown point
27.307, -80.420
Lift-off point
27.307, -80.420
Record number
1104261705-01

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:11 UTC22:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryMLB
22:27 UTC00:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryMLB
23:13 UTC23:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLB

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 19:47 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.

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 12:00Z

11.1 hours before the tornado, 130 km from the path. April 26, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2011-04-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1618 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 736 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2011-04-26The 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 -8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1618 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2576 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 00:00Z

0.9 hours after it, 130 km from the path. April 27, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2011-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2078 joules per kilogram, CIN -50, lifted condensation level 1051 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2011-04-27The 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 37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.1939Sfc1 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
2078 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4652 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1051 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Ft Pierce/St Lucie (FPR), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:53 UTC8369110° 16 kt1012.2TS
22:53 UTC8069120° 17 kt251012.5TS
23:53 UTC7566170° 5 kt1013.5
00:53 UTC7668140° 4 kt1013.9

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

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:03 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
22:55 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDPort Saint LucieSt. Lucie, FL
22:58 UTCFLOODPort Saint LucieSt. Lucie, FLPONDING ON ROADWAYS 2 MILES EAST OF INTERSTATE 95. ALSO 1 INCH OF RAIN IN 20 MINUTES.
23:00 UTCHAIL 0.25Port Saint LucieSt. Lucie, FL
23:17 UTCHAIL 0.88Port Saint LucieSt. Lucie, FL

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 26, 2011

58 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 261:05 AM CDTEF3Christian, KY2.6300$1.0 million
April 262:02 AM CDTEF2Warrick, IN4.5300$90,000
April 263:09 AM EDTEF1Pike, IN0.5225$110,000
April 266:41 AM CDTEF1Covington, MS0.350$45,000
April 267:12 AM CDTEF1Jones, MS1.2100$180,000
April 262:15 PM EDTEF0Martin, NC0.130$500
April 261:40 PM CDTEF0Bailey, TX0.850
April 264:20 PM EDTEF1Oneida, NY0.965$5,000
April 265:44 PM EDTEF0Allegan, MI3.350$1.0 million
April 264:56 PM CDTEF0Kaufman, TX5.1500$5,000
April 265:14 PM CDTEF1Lonoke, AR8.3800$1.8 million
April 265:45 PM CDTEF1Van Zandt, TX13.98801$200,000
April 265:46 PM CDTEF0Sequoyah, OK0.150
April 265:55 PM CDTEF0Crawford, AR0.275
April 266:01 PM CDTEF0Kaufman, TX5.1400$30,000
April 266:10 PM CDTEF0Phillips, AR to MS27.9200$92,000
April 266:23 PM CDTEF0Kaufman, TX1.0100
April 266:29 PM CDTEF0Phillips, AR to MS30.8200$75,000
April 266:32 PM CDTEF1Faulkner, AR12.9200$40,000
April 266:35 PM CDTEF1Rusk, TX13.9100$10,000
April 267:00 PM CDTEF0Wood, TX3.450
April 267:04 PM CDTEF2Harrison, TX5.2400$300,000
April 267:15 PM CDTEF0Navarro, TX0.4100
April 267:17 PM CDTEF1Polk, AR0.850$20,000
April 267:18 PM CDTEF2Grayson, KY3.0440
April 267:19 PM CDTEF0Grayson, KY0.360
April 267:24 PM CDTEF0Harrison, TX6.070
April 267:34 PM CDTEF0Bossier Parish, LA3.650
April 267:35 PM CDTEF1Limestone, TX0.975$150,000
April 267:46 PM CDTEF2Panola, TX to LA42.48502$10 million
April 267:48 PM CDTEF0Limestone, TX0.7100
April 267:49 PM CDTEF0Smith, TX3.260
April 267:49 PM CDTEF0Smith, TX3.260
April 268:53 PM EDTEF1Hardin, KY0.7125
April 268:06 PM CDTEF0Caldwell, KY0.350
April 268:27 PM CDTEF0Hardeman, TN1.5150$15,000
April 268:28 PM CDTEF0McLennan, TX0.450
April 269:35 PM EDTEF1Otsego, NY4.8150$100,000
April 268:53 PM CDTEF0McLennan, TX1.5100
April 268:54 PM CDTEF1Webster Parish, LA6.5150$100,000
April 268:54 PM CDTEF0Chester, TN8.225$75,000
April 269:00 PM CDTEF0Hopkins, KY0.250$2,000
April 269:25 PM CDTEF1Bienville Parish, LA5.3100
April 269:31 PM CDTEF0Lincoln Parish, LA6.080
April 269:45 PM CDTEF1Claiborne Parish, LA to AR26.5100$20,000
April 269:50 PM CDTEF0Jackson Parish, LA5.270
April 269:57 PM CDTEF0Limestone, TX0.7100
April 2610:33 PM CDTEF0Ouachita Parish, LA1.950$200
April 2610:44 PM CDTEF0Morehouse Parish, LA2.575$20,000
April 2610:45 PM CDTEF1Morehouse Parish, LA to AR12.04401$60,000
April 2610:55 PM CDTEF1Red River Parish, LA3.5125$150,000
April 2612:03 AM CDTEF2West Carroll Parish, LA11.0880$650,000
April 2612:27 AM CDTEF2Sabine Parish, LA17.4300$1.0 million
April 2612:35 AM CDTEF0Sharkey, MS2.2100$15,000
April 2612:42 AM CDTEF1Sabine Parish, LA4.7880
April 2612:42 AM CDTEF1Natchitoches Parish, LA8.0880$2.0 million
April 2612:43 AM CDTEF2Sunflower, MS11.84403$300,000
April 2612:56 AM CDTEF2Natchitoches Parish, LA25.1880$300,000

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.