Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2012

EF0 tornado, Lake Louisa to Mohawk, Florida, June 24, 2012

From Lake Louisa to Mohawk, this EF0 tornado ran 3.7 miles across Lake County on June 24, 2012, touching down at 8:59 PM EDT and reaching 100 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
June 24, 2012
Touchdown
8:59 PM EDT (00:59 UTC)
Lifted
9:05 PM EDT (01:05 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
3.7 miles (6.0 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lake County
Touchdown point
28.485, -81.661
Lift-off point
28.539, -81.662
Record number
1206241859-01

What the Weather Service recorded

While Tropical Storm Debby was located over the northeast Gulf of Mexico, numerous strong rain bands rotated across east-central Florida. One particular persistent, mini-supercell produced three tornadoes as it traveled north from Okeechobee to Brevard County. The tornadoes occurred over rural areas of Osceola and Brevard Counties, which limited damage. Another mini-supercell moved north from Polk County and produced discontinuous tornado damage along a 3.7 mile path in southeast Lake County. A linear squall line behind the mini-supercells caused a localized area of property damage in northwest Osceola County. A canoe capsized on an inland lake in Lake County due to gusty winds and choppy conditions on the water, resulting in a drowning. Multi-day rainfall totals exceeded four inches across portions of Seminole, Orange, Volusia and Lake Counties, with maximum accumulations of 7-9 inches near Pierson, Lady Lake, and Astor Park in Lake County. No significant flooding occurred due to abnormally dry soil conditions prior to the rain event.

A mini-supercell traveled from Polk County to southeast Lake County and produced an EF0 tornado along a discontinuous path of 3.7 miles within Winter Garden in Lake County, just west of the Orange County line. The storm crossed Johns Lake, producing tornado damage on both the south and immediate north sides of the lake. Numerous trees were damaged as far south as Avalon Woods Drive, with four adjacent homes in the Suburban Shores Subdivision experiencing property damage on the northern end of the damage path. The damage consisted of large branches on a vehicle, a large tree on a roof of another home, and other homes with significant damage to pool screen enclosures. The supercell also produced a tornado nearly an hour earlier, well to the south in Polk County. DI28, DOD2, LB-EXP.

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

The warnings

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

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:46 UTC and running to 08:39 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:48 UTC23:46 UTCTornado WatchMLB
23:46 UTC08:39 UTCTornado WatchMLB
01:46 UTC00:00 UTCFlood WatchMLB
08:39 UTC17:57 UTCTornado WatchMLB
15:00 UTC00:00 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryMLB
17:57 UTC01:32 UTCTornado WatchMLB

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 19:52 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), 00:00Z

1.0 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. June 25, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2012-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 680 joules per kilogram, CIN -16, lifted condensation level 719 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 2012-06-25The 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 268 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
680 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1513 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
719 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
268 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
377 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
9.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

11.0 hours after it, 114 km from the path. June 25, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2012-06-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 628 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 784 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 2012-06-25The 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 169 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
628 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
723 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
784 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
7.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:57 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
22:48 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD6 Nw Lake WalesPolk, FLFUNNEL CLOUD TOUCH DOWN IN WINTERSET LAKE AREA, NEAR THOMPSON NURSERY ROAD AND SR ROAD 653. MINOR DAMAGE OF UNKNOWN EXTANT.
22:48 UTCFLOODLake PanasoffkeeSumter, FLE-SPOTTER REPORTED HEAVY FLOODING AROUND LAKE PANASOFFKEE. 6 PLUS INCHES NEAR CR 461 WEST. 8 PLUS INCHES OF MOVING WATER IN CR 470 AREA.
00:10 UTCTORNADO5 Se Winter HavenPolk, FLSEMI OVERTURNED IN DITCH WITH TREES AND POWER LINES DOWNED IN THE GROVE PARK AREA JUST NORTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF CYPRESS GARDEN ROAD AND REGISTER ROAD. TIME BASED ON RADAR. REPORT WAS CORRECTED FOR TIME.
00:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Wsw Winter GardenLake, FLLAKE COUNTY FIRE RESCUE REPORTED FOUR ADJACENT HOMES ON SHORE DRIVE ON JOHNS LAKE SUSTAINED PROPERTY DAMAGE. LARGE BRANCHES ON VEHICLE. LARGE TREE ON ROOF OF ANOTHER HOME. ADJACENT HOME WITH POOL SCREEN ENCLOSURE RIPPED
00:25 UTCTORNADO5 Se Winter HavenPolk, FLSEMI OVERTURNED IN DITCH WITH TREES AND POWER LINES DOWNED IN THE GROVE PARK AREA JUST NORTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF CYPRESS GARDEN ROAD AND REGISTER ROAD.
01:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wsw EmeraldaLake, FLLARGE TREE DOWN IN ROAD.
02:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wsw CelebrationOsceola, FLABOUT TWO BLOCKS OF DAMAGE IN INDIAN RIDGE SUBDIVISION NEAR INDIAN RIVER TRAIL NORTH IN KISSIMMEE. ONE AWNING RIPPED FROM HOME. THREE ADJACENT HOMES WITH SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO POOL SCREEN ENCLOSURES. SEVERAL HOMES WITH M
03:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 5DebaryVolusia, FL24 HOUR RAINFALL ENDING AT 11 PM.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 24, 2012

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2410:15 AM EDTEF0Hardee, FL17.0100$65,000
June 2411:00 AM EDTEF0Glades, FL0.010$5,000
June 2411:10 AM EDTEF0Collier, FL16.230
June 2412:00 PM EDTEF0Collier, FL0.020
June 2412:23 PM EDTEF0Highlands, FL3.51501$15,000
June 2412:25 PM EDTEF0Palm Beach, FL0.020
June 2412:25 PM EDTEF0Collier, FL0.120
June 241:25 PM EDTEF0Palm Beach, FL1.230$50,000
June 242:05 PM EDTEF0Miami-Dade, FL0.520$10,000
June 243:04 PM EDTEF0Glades, FL0.020
June 243:23 PM EDTEF1Highlands, FL5.3100$60,000
June 243:40 PM EDTEF1Pinellas, FL0.775$130,000
June 244:39 PM EDTEF0Hillsborough, FL1.150$90,000
June 245:17 PM EDTEF1Pasco, FL0.475$650,000
June 246:55 PM EDTEF0Polk, FL0.925$4,000
June 248:04 PM EDTEF2Polk, FL6.2150$390,000
June 248:21 PM EDTEF1Pinellas, FL3.050$150,000
June 249:55 PM EDTEF0Osceola, FL3.1100
June 249:57 PM EDTEF1Citrus, FL5.0100$90,000
June 2410:46 PM EDTEF0Osceola, FL1.150
June 2411:37 PM EDTEF0Brevard, FL1.225

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.