Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2016
EF1 tornado, Oak Knoll to Myakka Head, Florida, February 24, 2016
From Oak Knoll to Myakka Head, this EF1 tornado ran 8.6 miles across Manatee County on February 24, 2016, touching down at 12:27 PM EST and reaching 50 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- February 24, 2016
- Touchdown
- 12:27 PM EST (17:27 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:39 PM EST (17:39 UTC)
- On the ground
- 12 minutes
- Path length
- 8.6 miles (13.8 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Manatee County
- Touchdown point
- 27.540, -82.200
- Lift-off point
- 27.540, -82.060
- Record number
- 1602241127-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong area of low pressure pushing through the Deep South helped guide a cold front through the region on the 24th. The front spawned numerous strong to severe storms across the area some of which produced tornadoes.
The tornado impacted mainly rural areas of Manatee County. Numerous pictures of a line of snapped trees along the path were received. No storm survey was conducted due to the very rural located. Strength estimated off of tree damage pictures.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
25 minutes of warning. NWS TBW issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:02 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:47 UTC | 15:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | TBW |
| 17:02 UTC | 17:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | TBW |
| 17:30 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TBW |
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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:35 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
5.5 hours before the tornado, 32 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 575 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -46 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 317 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 715 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 415 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 439 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.1
- Supercell composite
- 8.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.5 K/km
The surface observations
Sarasota-Bradenton (SRQ), 45 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:40 UTC | 73 | 70 | 190° 21 kt | 27 | 1011.2 | |
| 15:48 UTC | 73.4 | 69.8 | 190° 19 kt | 29 | 1011.5 | |
| 15:53 UTC | 72 | 70 | 190° 20 kt | 29 | 1011.2 | -RA |
| 16:19 UTC | 72 | 70 | 180° 20 kt | 28 | 1011.2 | -RA BR |
| 16:24 UTC | 72 | 70 | 180° 26 kt | 32 | 1010.8 | -RA BR |
| 16:29 UTC | 71 | 67 | 170° 23 kt | 32 | 1011.2 | RA BR |
| 16:46 UTC | 70 | 67 | 210° 10 kt | 1011.2 | -RA BR | |
| 16:53 UTC | 72 | 69 | 190° 9 kt | 1011.2 | -RA BR | |
| 17:53 UTC | 70 | 67 | 1010.8 | |||
| 18:15 UTC | 72 | 67 | 210° 16 kt | 1010.8 | ||
| 18:53 UTC | 71 | 67 | 210° 16 kt | 1010.8 | ||
| 19:00 UTC | 71 | 67 | 210° 7 kt | 1010.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:24 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:27 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Sw Duette | Manatee, FL | LATE REPORT VIA PUBLIC. RECEIVED NUMEROUS PICTURES OF SNAPPED TREES ALONG THE PATH. TRACK IS APPROXIMATELY 8 MILES LONG. TIMES ESTIMATED OFF OF THE REPORT AND RADAR. |
| 17:45 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ne Duette | Hillsborough, FL | TORNADO MOVED THROUGH OPEN FIELD OBSERVED BY MOSAIC PLANT WORKERS. TIME ESTIMATED OFF OF RADAR. |
| 18:15 UTC | TORNADO | Murdock | Charlotte, FL | DAMAGE REPORTED IN MURDOCK OF TREES DOWN...LIGHT POSTS DAMAGED...WINDOWS AND BUILDING DAMAGE. TIME ESTIMATED BASED OFF OF RADAR. |
| 18:37 UTC | TORNADO | 3 N Harbour Heights | Desoto, FL | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO. |
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 February 24, 2016
25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 24 | 1:26 AM EST | EF1 | Lee, GA | 0.2 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| February 24 | 2:45 AM EST | EF1 | Grady, GA | 12.8 | 400 | $20,000 | ||
| February 24 | 4:04 AM CST | EF0 | Shelby, AL | 1.1 | 80 | |||
| February 24 | 12:45 PM EST | EF1 | Patrick, VA | 1.4 | 800 | $205,000 | ||
| February 24 | 12:45 PM EST | EF0 | Hillsborough, FL | 0.9 | 30 | |||
| February 24 | 12:57 PM EST | EF0 | Duplin, NC | 0.5 | 150 | $5,000 | ||
| February 24 | 1:10 PM EST | EF0 | Wayne, NC | 1.0 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| February 24 | 1:13 PM EST | EF1 | Duplin, NC | 0.2 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| February 24 | 1:15 PM EST | EF0 | Charlotte, FL | 0.2 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| February 24 | 1:22 PM EST | EF1 | Charlotte, FL | 2.7 | 100 | 1 | $1.6 million | |
| February 24 | 2:31 PM EST | EF1 | Sussex, VA | 8.9 | 300 | 3 | 8 | $2.6 million |
| February 24 | 2:54 PM EST | EF0 | Bertie, NC | 0.5 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| February 24 | 3:16 PM EST | EF0 | Chesterfield, SC | 8.9 | 70 | |||
| February 24 | 3:27 PM EST | EF0 | Campbell, VA | 0.4 | 125 | $10,000 | ||
| February 24 | 3:28 PM EST | EF3 | Appomattox, VA | 16.9 | 400 | 1 | 7 | $11 million |
| February 24 | 4:00 PM EST | EF1 | Durham, NC | 0.4 | 30 | $100,000 | ||
| February 24 | 4:10 PM EST | EF0 | Fluvanna, VA | 4.4 | 350 | $325,000 | ||
| February 24 | 4:32 PM EST | EF2 | Granville, NC | 5.1 | 125 | $600,000 | ||
| February 24 | 4:48 PM EST | EF1 | Mecklenburg, VA | 5.0 | 150 | $260,000 | ||
| February 24 | 6:34 PM EST | EF3 | King and Queen, VA | 30.3 | 500 | 25 | $9.2 million | |
| February 24 | 7:12 PM EST | EF0 | Saint Mary's, MD | 6.5 | 75 | |||
| February 24 | 7:20 PM EST | EF1 | Bradford, PA | 1.1 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| February 24 | 7:38 PM EST | EF2 | Lancaster, PA | 4.9 | 400 | $8.0 million | ||
| February 24 | 8:25 PM EST | EF1 | Middlesex, VA | 6.1 | 150 | $387,000 | ||
| February 24 | 8:35 PM EST | EF1 | Middlesex, VA | 4.0 | 150 | $275,000 |
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.