Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2014

EF0 tornado, Cottondale Arpt to Cottondale, Florida, October 14, 2014

Name: EF0 tornado, Cottondale Arpt to Cottondale, Florida, October 14, 2014
Start: 2014-10-14T08:00:00.000Z
End: 2014-10-14T08:03:00.000Z
Location: Cottondale Arpt to Cottondale, Florida

From Cottondale Arpt to Cottondale, this EF0 tornado ran 1.7 miles across Jackson County on October 14, 2014, touching down at 3:00 AM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 of property damage.

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.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: October 14, 2014
Touchdown: 3:00 AM CDT (08:00 UTC)
Lifted: 3:03 AM CDT (08:03 UTC)
On the ground: 3 minutes
Path length: 1.7 miles (2.8 km)
Path width: 20 yards (18 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
County: Jackson County
Touchdown point: 30.780, -85.360
Lift-off point: 30.794, -85.336
Record number: 1410140200-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An unseasonably strong upper level trough and cold brought a round of strong to severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall to the area. There were several tornadoes confirmed across northwest Florida. All of the tornadoes were rated EF0, and most of them occurred in forested areas with no structures impacted. However, there was some minor damage to structures around Cottondale in Jackson county and Sumatra in Liberty county. All of the tornadoes exhibited tornadic debris signatures using dual-pol radar.

Most of the damage from this tornado was limited to trees. However, one house had a garage door blown in and some of the roof structure removed. The tornado was rated EF0 with winds estimated at 75 to 80 mph. A small debris signature was also seen on KEVX dual-pol radar. Monetary damage was estimated.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Oct 14, 1:39 AM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 14, 1:39 AM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
239 AM EDT Tue Oct 14 2014

...ACTIVE WEATHER EXPECTED TODAY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE
STORMS AND FLASH FLOODING ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA...

.Near Term [Through Today]...
A squall line moving into our westernmost zones at 06Z will
continue to sweep from west to east across the region today
bringing with it a threat for severe storms and heavy rainfall. A
tornado watch is in effect for all of our western zones including
portions of SW GA and the western Big Bend until 7 am EDT. This
watch will likely be extended eastward as the day progresses. By 9
am, the leading edge of the squall line should be near an Albany
to Tallahassee to Apalachicola line and east of our FA by early to
mid afternoon. The severe threat will end in the wake of the
squall line but rain chances won't end until the passage of the
cold front.

The main severe weather threat continues to be damaging straight
line winds, with a few isolated tornadoes possible. The flash flood
threat will come from the potential for training convection from
south to north out ahead of the main squall line over areas that
have already seen several inches of rain.

.Short Term [Tonight Through Thursday]...
The cold front should be near TLH by 00Z Wednesday and completely
east of the area by 06-08Z. Even at this short time range, there are
timing differences of a few hours among the models. Evening PoPs
will range from categorical over the southeast FL Big Bend counties
to chance over the rest of the Big Bend and Southwest GA. A much
drier and cooler air mass will settle in behind the front to bring
some classic October weather to the region for Wednesday and
Thursday. Afternoon highs will actually be a couple of degrees below
normal, around 80 in FL with upper 70s to the north. Overnight lows
Wednesday night will drop several degrees below normal ranging from
the mid 50s at the coast to the upper 40s across the normally cooler
areas west of an ABY to TLH line.

.Long Term [Thursday Night Through Tuesday]...
Dry weather is expected through the period with high pressure in
the wake of the strong cold front on Tuesday. Temperatures will
be within a few degrees of average for this time of year.

&&

.Aviation...
[Through 06Z Wednesday] Numerous showers and thunderstorms will
cross the area today ending from west to east from midday through
the early evening. MVFR conditions will be most common in
thunderstorms, but brief periods of IFR will also occur in the
heavier showers. Winds will also be quite gusty in storms. Strong
southerly winds will shift to the WNW behind a cold front during
the latter part of the period, with VFR conditions then
prevailing.

&&

.Marine...
Small craft advisory conditions will continue today, but end with
the passage of a cold front. Moderate west to northwest winds will
then persist below headline criteria through Thursday with lighter
winds arriving for Friday and Saturday as high pressure builds over
the waters.

&&

.Fire Weather...
Widespread showers and thunderstorms will end from west to east
later today and this evening as a strong cold front pushes through.
A cooler and much drier airmass will settle into the area for the
remainder of the week but Red Flag conditions are not expected.

&&

.Hydrology...
Radar estimates and rain gages indicates that 1-2 inch rainfall
totals have been common from the western FL Big Bend west across the
FL Panhandle and north into Southeast AL. However, there have been a
few bands of higher amounts in the 5-7 inch range. These areas are
primed and any additional rainfall (which is expected) could very
well result in flash flooding. The most vulnerable counties are
southeast Walton, Washington, eastern Homes, western Jackson, Gulf,
western Franklin and southern Liberty. An additional 1-2 inches of
rainfall will be common across the area with locally higher amounts
up to 5 inches or so. The flash flood watch will remain in place.
While some of the flashier streams and creeks could see some sharp
rises, flooding of main stem rivers is not anticipated.

&&

.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...

Tallahassee   83  55  80  50  80 /  90  40  10   0   0
Panama City   80  58  79  56  79 /  90  10   0   0   0
Dothan        80  52  77  49  78 /  80  10   0   0   0
Albany        80  54  78  50  79 /  90  30  10   0   0
Valdosta      82  58  79  50  79 /  90  70  10   0   0
Cross City    84  64  81  51  80 /  80  80  10   0   0
Apalachicola  82  58  78  55  79 / 100  20   0   0   0

&&

.TAE Watches/Warnings/Advisories...

FL...Flash Flood Watch through this afternoon for Calhoun-Central
     Walton-Coastal Bay-Coastal Franklin-Coastal Gulf-Gadsden-
     Holmes-Inland Bay-Inland Franklin-Inland Gulf-Inland Walton-
     Jackson-Liberty-South Walton-Washington.

     High Rip Current Risk through late tonight for Coastal Bay-
     Coastal Franklin-Coastal Gulf-South Walton.

GA...Flash Flood Watch through this afternoon for Clay-Decatur-Early-
     Miller-Seminole.

AL...Flash Flood Watch through this afternoon for Coffee-Dale-Geneva-
     Henry-Houston.

GM...Small Craft Advisory until 5 PM EDT this afternoon for Apalachee
     Bay-Coastal waters From Ochlockonee River to Apalachicola
     FL out to 20 NM-Coastal waters from Suwannee River to
     Keaton Beach FL out 20 NM-Coastal waters from Apalachicola
     to Destin FL out 20 NM-Waters from Suwannee River to
     Apalachicola FL from 20 to 60 NM-Waters from Apalachicola
     to Destin FL from 20 to 60 NM.

&&

NEAR TERM...BARRY
SHORT TERM...WOOL
LONG TERM...DVD
AVIATION...WOOL
MARINE...WOOL
FIRE WEATHER...BARRY
HYDROLOGY...WOOL

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 13, 9:26 PM CDT, 5 hours 34 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
1026 PM EDT MON OCT 13 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1001 PM     TORNADO          2 N SUMATRA             30.05N 84.98W
10/13/2014                   LIBERTY            FL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            TORNADIC DEBRIS SIGNATURE SEEN ON THE TLH DUAL POL DATA
            AT THIS LOCATION. EMERGENCY MANAGER FORWARDED A REPORT OF
            TREES DOWN AS WELL. LIKELY TORNADO.

&&

08-LAMERS

Local storm report, Oct 13, 11:37 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
1237 AM EDT TUE OCT 14 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0959 PM     TORNADO          SUMATRA                 30.02N 84.98W
10/13/2014                   LIBERTY            FL   BROADCAST MEDIA

            TREES DOWN AND A ROOF BLOWN OFF A SHED IN THE VICINITY OF
            SUMATRA. EXACT LOCATION UNKNOWN. RELAYED BY WMBB-TV
            METEOROLOGIST.

&&

08-LAMERS

Local storm report, Oct 14, 2:21 AM CDT, 39 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
321 AM EDT TUE OCT 14 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0300 AM     TSTM WND GST     EUCHEEANNA              30.65N 86.05W
10/14/2014  M60 MPH          WALTON             FL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            LIGHTNING ALSO STRUCK A TREE NEAR THE HOME. WIND RECORDED
            BY ANEMOMETER.

&&

WOOL

Local storm report, Oct 14, 2:37 AM CDT, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
337 AM EDT TUE OCT 14 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0306 AM     MARINE TSTM WIND PANAMA CITY BEACH       30.21N 85.85W
10/14/2014  M55 MPH          BAY                FL   MESONET

            48-KT GUST MEASURED BY THE INSTRUMENTATION LOCATED ON THE
            PANAMA CITY BEACH PIER.

&&

WOOL

Local storm report, Oct 14, 2:48 AM CDT, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
348 AM EDT TUE OCT 14 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0325 AM     TSTM WND DMG     PANAMA CITY             30.18N 85.67W
10/14/2014                   BAY                FL   911 CALL CENTER

            SEVERAL REPORTS OF POWER LINES DOWN FROM AROUND THE
            PANAMA CITY BEACH AREA AND PANAMA CITY. WIND WAS ALSO
            DRIVING RAINWATER INTO SOME CONDO UNITS THROUGH THE
            BALCONY DOORS ON PANAMA CITY BEACH.

&&

08-LAMERS

Local storm report, Oct 14, 2:49 AM CDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
349 AM EDT TUE OCT 14 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0305 AM     TSTM WND DMG     PANAMA CITY BEACH       30.21N 85.85W
10/14/2014                   BAY                FL   911 CALL CENTER

            POWER LINES DOWN IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN PANAMA CITY
            BEACH.

&&

08-LAMERS

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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

8.0 hours before the tornado, 109 km from the path. October 14, 2014.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 87 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -108 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 455 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1247 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

4.0 hours after it, 109 km from the path. October 14, 2014.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 998 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 601 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 217 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 276 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.8
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Mariana (MAI), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:59 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2014 tornado in Florida Every tornado in Florida since 1950 Warnings in force in Florida now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of October 14, 2014

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 14	4:40 AM EDT	EF1	Harris, GA	5.9	200	$55,000
October 14	5:15 AM EDT	EF0	Fulton, GA	3.0	75	$10,000
October 14	5:20 AM EDT	EF0	Fulton, GA	2.6	75	$10,000
October 14	5:33 AM EDT	EF0	Fulton, GA	1.1	75	$40,000
October 14	5:43 AM EDT	EF1	Cobb, GA	1.3	100	$75,000
October 14	5:55 AM EDT	EF1	Forsyth, GA	7.5	100	$95,000
October 14	8:11 AM EDT	EF0	Oconee, SC	0.9	100
October 14	8:00 PM EDT	EF0	Greenville, SC	1.0	50	$1,000
October 14	8:48 PM EDT	EF0	McDowell, NC	0.5	100	$15,000

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.