Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2016

EF0 tornado, Clearwater Beach to Coachman, Florida, April 7, 2016

From Clearwater Beach to Coachman, this EF0 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Pinellas County on April 7, 2016, touching down at 6:55 AM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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.

  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
April 7, 2016
Touchdown
6:55 AM EDT (10:55 UTC)
Lifted
6:59 AM EDT (10:59 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Pinellas County
Touchdown point
27.972, -82.718
Lift-off point
27.969, -82.705
Record number
1604070455-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak front moving through the region produced showers with a few thunderstorms. Low-level shear was enhanced significantly across the area allowing for the showers and storms to quickly rotate and produce a few brief tornadoes.

The Clearwater Beach police department reported seeing a waterspout move ashore and quickly dissapating after moving on land. Damage was confined to power lines and tree branches being knocked down. The time of the tornado was estimated from doppler radar signatures.

The survey crew found a line of damage starting near Cliff Stephens Park and extending through about a half a block east of McMullen Booth Rd. Much of the damage was observed near the tree tops although a few trees were uprooted. A total of 15 homes were damaged by the tornado. The damage was mostly to the roofs from loose tree branches. One home had a hole punched into the roof by a downed tree while another had a portion of the roof peeled back.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS TBW issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:41 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:41 UTC11:00 UTCTornado WarningTBW
11:25 UTC11:35 UTCTornado WarningTBW

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 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), 00:00Z

10.9 hours before the tornado, 42 km from the path. April 7, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2016-04-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 100 joules per kilogram, CIN -22, lifted condensation level 1628 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 2016-04-07The 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 -6 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
100 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Surface CAPE
349 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.1 hours after it, 42 km from the path. April 7, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2016-04-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 103 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 962 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 2016-04-07The 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 375 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
103 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
375 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
417 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Clearwater Air Park (CLW), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
08:55 UTC64.462.6170° 3 kt1013.9
09:15 UTC64.464.4170° 5 kt1013.9
09:35 UTC6864.4180° 6 kt1013.5RA
09:55 UTC6866.2190° 4 kt1013.9-DZ
10:15 UTC6866.2210° 7 kt1013.9
10:35 UTC6866.2200° 6 kt1013.5RA
10:55 UTC6866.2290° 11 kt221014.2-RA
11:15 UTC64.462.6280° 8 kt241014.9RA
11:35 UTC66.264.4310° 7 kt1014.6
11:55 UTC6864.4340° 7 kt1014.9
12:15 UTC6864.4340° 4 kt1014.9
12:35 UTC6864.4340° 5 kt1015.2

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

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:52 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
10:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 S HudsonPasco, FLFIRE DEPT REPORT OF LARGE TREE INTO HOME. POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE.
10:55 UTCTORNADO3 Ene ClearwaterPinellas, FLCLEARWATER PUBLIC SAFETY REPORT OF LARGE TREE UPROOTED IN CLEARWATER.
10:55 UTCTORNADO3 Ene ClearwaterPinellas, FLTRAINED SPOTTER REPORT OF TORNADO OVER BAYSIDE BRIDGE. REPORTS OF SIGNS BENT OVER AND FENCE TORE DOWN AT BALLFIELD ON NORTH END OF BRIDGE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 7, 2016

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 72:27 AM EDTEF0Webster, GA5.1300$30,000
April 72:40 AM EDTEF2Clay, GA15.82505$150,000
April 75:51 AM EDTEF0Pasco, FL3.150$100,000
April 76:37 AM EDTEF0Pinellas, FL0.150$5,000

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.