EF0 tornado, Yankeetown, Florida, May 29, 2012

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

May 29, 2012

Touchdown

2:13 PM EDT (18:13 UTC)

Lifted

2:17 PM EDT (18:17 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Levy County

Touchdown point

29.035, -82.757

Lift-off point

29.056, -82.717

Record number

1205291213-01

The outer bands of Tropical Storm Beryl began to move over west central Florida on the 27th, before the center made landfall near Jacksonville early on the 28th. Beryl then became a tropical depression less than 12 hours later as it curved northward to the Georgia border. Beryl created onshore flow in west central Florida leading to isolated areas of heavy rain and tornadoes.||In Levy county, wind gusts of up to 38 knots with sustained winds of 20 to 25 knots were measured. Rainfall of 1.25 inches was measured at the COOP station at Usher Tower.||In Citrus county, sustained winds of around 20 knots were measured across the county. Rainfall of 3.98 inches was measured at the COOP station at Inverness 3 SE.||In Hernando county, sustained winds of 25 to 30 knots were measured across the county. Rainfall of three to five inches was measured, with 5.00 inches measured at the COOP station at Brooksville - Chin Hill. Radar rainfall estimates were as high as 8 inches in some parts of the county.||In Sumter County, rainfall of 2.83 inches was measured at the COOP site at Bushnell.||In Pasco County, sustained winds of 20 to 25 knots were measured across the county. The COOP site at St. Leo measured 3.31 inches of rain.||In Pinellas County, thunderstorm wind gusts of up to 48 knots, with sustained wind gusts of 20 to 25 knots were measured. Rainfall an inch or more were measured over the northern half of the county, with 1.12 inches measured at the COOP site at Tarpon Springs.||In Hillsborough County, thunderstorm wind gusts of up to 38 knots with sustained winds of around 25 knots were measured across the county. Rainfall of around one inch or more were measured over most of the county, with 1.60 inches measured at the COOP station at Hillsborough River State Park.||In Polk County, thunderstorm wind gusts of up to 40 knots with sustained winds of around 30 knots were measured across the county. The highest rainfall measured was 1.12 inches at the COOP site at Lakeland.||In Manatee County, sustained winds of around 20 knots were measured across the county. Rainfall of over an inch were measured around the county, with 1.86 inches measured at the COOP station at Fort Green 12 WSW.||Over southwest Florida, sustained winds of around 20 knots were measured, with rainfall generally less than one inch were measured.

A large waterspout moved onshore at Hodges Island, then began to dissipate. Damage was limited to trees as the tornado was just north of roads and buildings in this rural area.

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

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

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:43 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 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.

Crystal River (CGC), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 153 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:11 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.

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

4 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.