Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2015

EF0 tornado, Clermont, Florida, June 1, 2015

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Lake County on June 1, 2015, touching down at 5:40 PM EDT and reaching 10 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
June 1, 2015
Touchdown
5:40 PM EDT (21:40 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lake County
Touchdown point
28.550, -81.750
Lift-off point
28.550, -81.750
Record number
1506011540-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several strong to severe thunderstorms developed along the east coast sea breeze as it pushed inland to the Interstate 4 corridor during the afternoon and interacted with other outflow boundaries. Large hail, up to golf ball sized was reported across DeBary, Sanford, Lake Mary, Altamonte Springs and Oakland. Strong winds also felled numerous trees and large tree branches leading to damage to homes and cars in DeBary, Astatula, and Lake Mary.

A citizen photographed a brief (landspout) tornado in an open construction field in Clermont. The report and photo was relayed by local media. No damage occurred.

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

The warnings

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:32 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLB
22:08 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLB

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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.

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. June 1, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2015-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 473 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 1012 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, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2015-06-01The 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 48 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 10 knots.1939Sfc1 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
473 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
416 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1012 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 114 km from the path. June 2, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2015-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 628 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 1236 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, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2015-06-02The 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 11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 knots.1939Sfc1 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
628 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2636 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1236 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
15 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Leesburg Municipal Airport (LEE), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC936630° 9 kt1015.9
20:02 UTC916610° 10 kt1015.6TS
20:46 UTC8171130° 14 kt221016.3-TSRA
20:53 UTC7872110° 10 kt1016.6+TSRA
20:57 UTC7772160° 8 kt1017.3+TSRA
21:04 UTC7672200° 9 kt1017.9+TSRA BR
21:16 UTC7370140° 8 kt1017.9TSRA BR
21:31 UTC7370140° 8 kt1017.3-TSRA BR
21:44 UTC7369130° 12 kt151016.3TSRA BR
21:53 UTC7369130° 11 kt1016.3-TSRA
21:58 UTC7268130° 9 kt1016.3-RA
22:07 UTC7368120° 6 kt1015.9VCTS -RA
22:45 UTC7470230° 4 kt1016.6-RA
22:53 UTC7470250° 6 kt1016.6-RA

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

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:40 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
19:50 UTCHAIL 12 Nnw Lake MarySeminole, FLPUBLIC REPORTED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA QUARTER SIZED HAIL NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF I-4 AND SR-46 IN SANFORD.
20:03 UTCHAIL 11 W Lake MarySeminole, FLSTORM SPOTTER REPORTS QUARTER-SIZED HAIL NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF LAKE EMMA ROAD AND LAKE MARY BOULEVARD IN LAKE MARY. ALSO ESTIMATED WIND GUSTS OF 45 TO 50 MPH.
20:10 UTCHAIL 0.882 Wsw Lake MarySeminole, FLSTORM SPOTTER ON GREENWOOD BOULEVARD IN LAKE MARY REPORTS NICKEL SIZED HAIL.
20:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 N Altamonte SpringsSeminole, FLBROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED PHOTO OF A FALLEN LARGE TREE ON MARKHAM WOODS RD SOUTH OF LAKE MARY BLVD. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
20:20 UTCHAIL 13 Nw Altamonte SpringsSeminole, FLCORRECTED STORM REPORT. SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL IN WEKIVA SPRINGS.
20:20 UTCCOASTAL FLOOD3 Nw Altamonte SpringsSeminole, FLSKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL IN WEKIVA SPRINGS.
21:40 UTCHAIL 16 S Lake ApopkaOrange, FLPUBLIC REPORTED QUARTER SIZED HAIL NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF OAKLAND ROAD AND TUBB STREET IN OAKLAND.
21:40 UTCHAIL 0.71 N LakelandPolk, FLNUMEROUS REPORTS OF DIME SIZE HAIL IN THE GREATER LAKELAND AREA.
21:41 UTCTSTM WND GST 563 Wsw InwoodPolk, FLLATE REPORT...MESONET STATION 3 WSW INWOOD /AU493/
21:43 UTCHAIL 1.756 S Lake ApopkaOrange, FLBROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED PHOTOS OF GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL IN OAKLAND.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

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.