Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2016

EF1 tornado, Hedges to Yulee, Florida, August 4, 2016

From Hedges to Yulee, this EF1 tornado ran 3.7 miles across Nassau County on August 4, 2016, touching down at 1:40 PM EDT and reaching 200 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
August 4, 2016
Touchdown
1:40 PM EDT (17:40 UTC)
Lifted
1:57 PM EDT (17:57 UTC)
On the ground
17 minutes
Path length
3.7 miles (5.9 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Nassau County
Touchdown point
30.591, -81.572
Lift-off point
30.644, -81.569
Record number
1608041140-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Low pressure meandered over north Florida with a very moist airmass in place with PWAT values over 2 inches. Light SW steering flow prevailed. Sea breeze fronts and convective outflows over a moist and unstable airmass spawned a few strong to severe storms in the afternoon and evening, with one storm in Nassau county producing a weak EF1 tornado.

Preliminary storm survey results determined EF1 tornado damage with maximum winds of 90 to 100 mph. The event began around 1:40 pm and lifted at approximately 1:57 pm. Maximum path width was about 200 yards and the path length was roughly 4.25 miles. County EM reported about 40-50 homes were impacted. Damage was reported around the intersection of Blackmon Road and Angie Road where approximately 100 trees were blown down around 1:50 pm. Additional reports included a large tree down on a home along Riverwood Drive and a passenger was trapped in a vehicle along Bobby Drive near Pages Dairy Road due to a downed tree on the vehicle. A semi-tractor trailer was turned over onto another vehicle along State Road 100 and a large tree was blown down along Gene Lassere Road that obstructed the road in both directions.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:37 UTC19:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryJAX
17:51 UTC18:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
17:57 UTC18:09 UTCTornado WarningJAX
18:32 UTC20:00 UTCFlood WarningJAX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:23 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.

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

5.7 hours before the tornado, 18 km from the path. August 4, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2016-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 804 joules per kilogram, CIN -49, lifted condensation level 1023 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, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2016-08-04The 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 -82 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 4 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
804 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-49 J/kg
Surface CAPE
40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1023 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

6.3 hours after it, 18 km from the path. August 5, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2016-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2008 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 754 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, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2016-08-05The 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 -38 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 2 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
2008 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2266 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
754 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-38 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Fernandina Beach (FHB), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:55 UTC89.678.8130° 8 kt1015.9
16:15 UTC89.678.8120° 8 kt1015.9
16:35 UTC89.678.8120° 10 kt1015.6
16:55 UTC89.678.8110° 9 kt1015.6
17:15 UTC91.478.8110° 12 kt1015.6VCTS
17:35 UTC87.877130° 13 kt1015.9TS
17:55 UTC8677210° 12 kt181016.9TS
18:15 UTC80.673.4320° 5 kt1016.9TS
18:35 UTC78.873.4300° 8 kt1016.6TS
18:55 UTC78.875.2320° 4 kt1015.9TS
19:15 UTC80.675.2290° 3 kt1015.9VCTS
19:35 UTC80.677310° 3 kt1015.2

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

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 19 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:39 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
17:40 UTCTORNADO1 Se YuleeNassau, FLPRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY RESULTS FOUND AN EF1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 90 TO 100 MPH. IT STARTED AT APPROXIMATELY 140 PM AND LIFTED AT APPROXIMATELY 157 PM. MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH WAS ABOUT 200 YARDS AND THE PATH LENGTH
17:50 UTCTORNADO3 S YuleeNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS TORNADO DAMAGE NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF BLACKMON ROAD AND ANGIE ROAD...WITH APPROXIMATELY 100 TREES DOWNED. TIME OF DAMAGE BASED ON RADAR DATA.
17:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sse YuleeNassau, FLLARGE TREES DOWN
18:00 UTCTORNADO1 Se YuleeNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS A LARGE TREE DOWNED OVER A HOME ALONG RIVERWOOD DRIVE.
18:00 UTCTORNADO2 Sse YuleeNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS TORNADO DAMAGE TO A RESIDENCE ALONG MEADOWOOD DRIVE.
18:00 UTCTORNADO5 Ssw St. MarysNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS A SEMI-TRACTOR TRAILER TURNED OVER ONTO ANOTHER VEHICLE ALONG STATE ROAD 200.
18:00 UTCTORNADO5 Ssw St. MarysNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS TREE DOWNED AND A PASSENGER TRAPPED IN A VEHICLE ALONG BOBBY DRIVE NEAR PAGES DAIRY ROAD.
18:05 UTCTORNADO5 Ssw St. MarysNassau, FLNASSAU COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS A LARGE TREE DOWNED ALONG GENE LASSERE ROAD THAT IS OBSTRUCTING THE ROADWAY IN BOTH DIRECTIONS...ALONG WITH WATER COMPLETELY COVERING THE ROADWAY.

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 August 4, 2016

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 411:20 AM CDTEF1Marathon, WI4.3250$100,000
August 43:30 PM CDTEF0Orleans Parish, LA0.5502
August 45:21 PM CDTEF0Pottawattamie, IA0.615

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.