Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2014

EF0 tornado, Okeelanta, Florida, March 6, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Palm Beach County on March 6, 2014, touching down at 2:30 PM EST and reaching 50 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
March 6, 2014
Touchdown
2:30 PM EST (19:30 UTC)
Lifted
2:31 PM EST (19:31 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Palm Beach County
Touchdown point
26.579, -80.713
Lift-off point
26.580, -80.710
Record number
1403061330-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong upper level trough of low pressure and its associated cold front moved across South Florida producing a squall line with a pronounced bow echo feature that raced across the area with strong wind gusts and isolated severe thunderstorms.

Multiple eye witnesses observed a brief tornado touchdown with power lines down in the vicinity of Okeelanta Road and Highway 27. Damage was consistent with that of an EF-0 tornado.

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

The warnings

12 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:18 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:28 UTC and running to 20:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:28 UTC20:48 UTCTornado WatchMFL
19:02 UTC20:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMFL
19:18 UTC19:45 UTCTornado WarningMFL
19:35 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMFL
19:59 UTC20:18 UTCTornado WarningMFL

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 16:27 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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 94 km from the path. March 6, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2014-03-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 888 joules per kilogram, CIN -19, lifted condensation level 967 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2014-03-06The 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 42 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
888 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-19 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1239 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
967 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 94 km from the path. March 7, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2014-03-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -28010, lifted condensation level 1198 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2014-03-07The 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 102 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28010 J/kg
Surface CAPE
38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1198 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:27 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
19:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 6010 Sse Big Cypress ReseCollier, FLPEA SIZED HAIL AND 60 MPH WINDS ALONG INTERSTATE 75 NEAR MICCOSUKEE INDIAN RESERVATION.
19:17 UTCTSTM WND GST 495 Ssw Rotenberger WildlBroward, FLSFWMD MESONET SITE ROTNW REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 49 MPH.
19:21 UTCTSTM WND GST 5215 W WestonBroward, FLA WEST-NORTHWEST THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST OF 52 MPH WAS RECORDED AT THE BROWARD SHERIFFS OFFICE LOCATED ALONG I75 AT 221 PM EST.
19:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ssw OkeelantaPalm Beach, FLMULTIPLE POWER LINES DOWN FROM POSSIBLE TORNADO.
19:30 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 477 W PahokeeAmz610, FLSFWMD MESONET SIDE L006...IN THE SOUTH END OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE...REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 41 KTS.
19:30 UTCTORNADO1 Ssw OkeelantaPalm Beach, FLMULTIPLE EYE-WITNESSES OBSERVED BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. POWER LINES DOWN IN VICINITY OF OKEELANTA ROAD AND HIGHWAY 27. DAMAGE CONSISTENT WITH THAT OF EF-0 TORNADO.
19:45 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 4210 Nw PahokeeAmz610, FLSFWMD MESONET SITE LZ40 IN CENTRAL LAKE OKEECHOBEE REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 42 KTS.
19:45 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 4810 Nw PahokeeAmz610, FLSFWMD MESONET SITE LZ40 IN CENTRAL LAKE OKEECHOBEE REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 42 KTS.
19:45 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 487 W PahokeeAmz610, FLSFWMD MESONET SITE L006 IN THE SOUTHERN END OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 42 KTS.
19:48 UTCTSTM WND GST 464 Se Belle GladePalm Beach, FLSFWMD MESONET SITE BELLW REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 46 MPH.
19:51 UTCTSTM WND GST 602 W ParklandBroward, FLWEATHERBUG MESONET SITE REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 60 MPH.
19:57 UTCTSTM WND GST 552 Wnw Boca WestPalm Beach, FLWEATHERBUG MESONET SITE REPORTED A WIND GUST OF 55 MPH.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 6, 2014

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 612:00 PM ESTEF0Pinellas, FL0.110
March 612:38 PM ESTEF0Hillsborough, FL1.415

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.