EF1 tornado, Campbellton to Blakely, Florida, April 19, 2015

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 19, 2015

Touchdown

9:47 AM CDT (14:47 UTC)

Lifted

10:38 AM CDT (15:38 UTC)

On the ground

51 minutes

Path length

38.7 miles (62.3 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$155,000

Counties

Houston, Jackson and Early counties

Touchdown point

30.980, -85.410

Lift-off point

31.330, -84.900

Record number

1504190847-01

11 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 107 mph.

• small barn completely destroyed, large tree uprooted
• several hardwood and softwood trees uprooted and snapped
• several large hardwood trees uprooted in different directions
• several pines uprooted and snapped

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

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across the region on April 19th, bringing with it tornadoes and straight line wind damage. Then on April 20th, another line of severe storms moved from Gulf county eastward through Tallahassee, bringing down numerous trees and power lines along its path, especially in Tallahassee.

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across the region on April 19th, bringing with it tornadoes, straight line wind damage, and significant flash flooding across portions of southeast Alabama.

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across the region on April 19th, bringing with it tornadoes and straight line wind damage.

This tornado traveled across three states from Jackson county, FL, through Houston county, AL, and ended in Early county, GA. From the initial touchdown in Florida through the first few miles of the track into Houston county, AL, the path width varied from 100-200 yards wide. Damage in the Florida part of the track was primarily limited to trees and power lines with a rating of EF1.

This is a continuation of the long track tornado that started in Jackson county, FL. Along the Houston county portion the track, numerous trees and power lines were blown down. One home in the Cottonwood area was damaged by a tree falling on the structure. In the Pansey area, a large metal outbuilding was destroyed with some of the debris removed from the foundation. The damage path began to widen at this point while approaching the Chattahoochee River and entering Early county, GA. The Alabama portion of the tornado track was rated EF1.

This is a continuation of the long track tornado that started in Jackson county, FL and moved through Houston county, AL and into Early county, GA. For the Early county, GA portion of the track, numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along its path. Some damage to structures occurred, mainly with roofing material removed. The damage width reached its maximum extent south of Blakely where the tornado was estimated to be around 500 yards wide. Significant tree damage was noted about 2 miles south of Blakely just before the tornado started to lift. Debris from this area was blown east of Highway 27, but the tornado itself did not cross the highway. This section of the track was rated EF1 with winds around 105 mph.||While this is certainly not one of the stronger tornadoes to affect the WFO Tallahassee forecast area in recent years, this tornado is noteworthy for having a 39 mile long damage path occurring across three states.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:57 UTC and running to 15:39 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:55 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.

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 2015 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.