EF0 tornado, Vicksburg, Florida, September 4, 2011

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

September 4, 2011

Touchdown

10:32 AM CDT (15:32 UTC)

Lifted

10:35 AM CDT (15:35 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.7 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Bay County

Touchdown point

30.421, -85.695

Lift-off point

30.436, -85.691

Record number

1109040932-01

A fairly widespread outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred on Labor Day across much of the NWS Tallahassee County Warning Area (CWA). This event was forced by unseasonably strong wind fields associated with a potent extra-tropical cyclone that was formerly Tropical Storm Lee. Post-tropical cyclone Lee was moving slowly toward the east-northeast along the north central Gulf Coast during the morning hours of September 5, 2011. By 3:00 pm EDT (1900 UTC), the cyclone was centered near Mobile Bay. It was at this point that the system finally began to accelerate off to the northeast. While tornadoes were initially considered to be the primary threat, examination of a special 1800 UTC KTAE sounding showed that low level winds had veered and that the flow was unidirectional through a deep layer. WFO Tallahassee coordinated with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) to replace the existing tornado watch with a severe thunderstorm watch at 4:00 pm EDT (2000 UTC). WFO Tallahassee issued a total of 35 convective warnings during the event along with several special marine warnings. A total of 52 severe weather reports were received across southeast Alabama, southwest and south central Georgia, and the Florida panhandle and big bend. ||Aside from the severe weather, the forecast area experienced other peripheral impacts from post-tropical storm Lee. Widespread storm-total rainfall of 3 to 6 inches was measured across the Florida panhandle and big bend, with 1 to 2 inch totals more common across the Alabama and Georgia portions of the CWA. The Apalachicola and Cedar Key tide gauges showed that tidal departures ran just over 2 feet above normal along the Florida big bend coastline during the high tide cycle of Tuesday morning, September 6. For the most part, flooding was avoided. The water rose up to the top of the sea walls in Dixie County, and there was some minor flooding in Wakulla County where the emergency manager reported about a 2-inch over-wash in St. Marks on Old Fort Rd. The pressure gradient associated with Post-Tropical Storm Lee produced occasional strong wind gusts across Wakulla county for around 10 hours. These strong wind gusts, combined with periods of heavy rain and wet soils, led to numerous trees and power lines falling throughout the day and into the evening hours. The emergency manager reported a total of 16 trees down and 28 power lines down by the end of the day. Of those 28 power lines, 10 of them sparked fires as a result of blowing down.

The public reported a tornado near Highway 20 around Crystal Lake. The tornado dissipated as it crossed the highway. No known damage occurred. This tornado was associated with the outer feeder bands from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:20 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:36 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:08 UTC and running to 16:41 UTC.

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 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 12:54 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.

Panama City (ECP), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:30 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.

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

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

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

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.