EF1 tornado, Richter Crossroads to Ellaville, Florida, April 30, 2014

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

April 30, 2014

Touchdown

1:52 AM CDT (06:52 UTC)

Lifted

2:00 AM CDT (07:00 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.4 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3,000

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

30.879, -85.364

Lift-off point

30.942, -85.341

Record number

1404300052-01

13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• surrounding DIs undamaged.
• a few other trees snapped or down at start location.
• solid EF1. swath of pines snapped. fall pattern supports convergent pattern into a center circulation. unsure if damage is solid between this and start point.
• 100-150 yd wide swath. tree fall consistent with tornado.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A strong long wave trough was centered over the mid Mississippi Valley extending south to the Gulf coast with several shortwaves rotating around it. During the April 29-30 time period, a strong MCS developed along the Gulf coast and trained across the area, producing extremely heavy rainfall rates and amounts on top of what had already been a very wet month with additional rainfall amounts of 6 to 10 inches common across the area. This led to serious flooding across portions of the Florida panhandle with several million dollars in damage reported, mainly to roads. However, several structures were also impacted by flood waters, especially in Walton county, and a FEMA disaster declaration was obtained across the area.

This tornado touched down a half mile or so east of Highway 77 south of Graceville. Damage was mostly to trees, but several homes were also damaged. One was severely damaged when a large oak tree toppled onto it. Damage to trees and to one home east of Highway 77 was consistent with EF1 damage with peak winds around 110 mph. This tornado also exhibited a debris signature on dual-pol radar. Monetary damage was estimated.

A second tornado was confirmed in Jackson county starting along Highway 231 southeast of Campbellton with a few trees blown over and snapped. There was evidence of sporadic damage to trees to the north-northeast. The second, and more significant area of damage of damage was to a grove of pine trees east of Campbellton along Highway 2. There was clear evidence of a tornado at this location consistent with higher end EF1 damage. There was no evidence of damage very far to the northeast of this road. Peak winds were estimated to be around 110 mph, and this tornado produced a debris signature on dual-pol radar. Monetary damage was estimated.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:45 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:45 UTC and running to 09:00 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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.

Mariana (MAI), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:51 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 2014 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.