EF0 tornado, Salem, Florida, September 1, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

September 1, 2016

Touchdown

10:39 PM EDT (02:39 UTC)

Path length

0.0 miles (0.0 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Taylor County

Touchdown point

29.870, -83.420

Lift-off point

29.870, -83.420

Record number

1609012039-01

Hurricane Hermine impacted the Florida big bend in early September with significant storm surge along the coast and strong winds inland which downed numerous trees and power lines, resulting in extended power outages in Tallahassee. The following inundation values (height above mean higher high water) were estimated along the coast. Panama City Beach: 1.71 ft, Panama City Marina: 1.60 ft, Apalachicola: 3.04 ft, Curtis Mill (US-319): 5.29 ft, Spring Creek Entrance: 5.91 ft, Town of Saint Marks: 5.08 ft, Saint Marks Lighthouse: 6.28 ft, Nutall Rise (Aucilla River): 6.07 ft, Econfina River: 7.17 ft, Spring Warrior Creek: 8.57 ft, Jabo Road (Taylor county): 7.94 ft, Keaton Beach: 7.57 ft, Steinhatchee Entrance: 7.30 ft, Shired Creek (Dixie county): 7.24 ft, Gopher River (Dixie county): 6.19 ft. In addition, storm surge was noted up the Suwannee River past the US-19 gauge at Wilcox, which is more than 20 river miles from the mouth of the river. The Wakulla River at Wakulla Springs also had its 2nd highest crest on record behind Hurricane Dennis (2005) at 7.49 ft NGVD29. There were three tornadoes confirmed, all brief EF0's in Taylor county with no damage reported from them. Rainfall generally ranged from 3-8 with minimal impacts from inland flooding. Inland wind impacts were significant. County by county impacts are as follows. ||In Taylor county, 6 people were rescued from high water related to surge in Steinhatchee. There were also 5 other rescues in the county. Approximately 75 homes or businesses sutained major damage, 60 had minor damage, and 140 were affected. Public assistance damage values were listed $907,000 for the county. Additional individual assistance damage values were estimated at around $4,490,000 with $200,000 assigned to a destroyed structure, $50,000 assigned to a structure with major damage, $10,000 assigned to a structure with minor damage, and $1,000 assigned to a structure that was affected.||In Liberty county, there were sporadic power outages reported with public assistance damage values listed at $110,748. ||In Franklin county, a mandatory evacuation of residents on Saint George Island occurred with the causeway being closed. Surge flooding was reported in Apalachicola, Carrabelle Beach, and Alligator Point. Approximately 27 homes or businesses were destroyed, 43 suffered major damage, 102 suffered minor damage, and 100 others were affected. Public assistance damage values were listed at $703,872. Additional individual assistance damage values were estimated at about $8,670,000 based on the numbers of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.||In Dixie county, mandatory evacuations were ordered. There were 61 homes or businesses that were destroyed, 540 that sustained major damage, 322 that sustained minor damage, and 660 others that were affected. Public assistance damage values were listed at $3,269,599. Additional individual assistance damage values were estimated at around $43,080,000 based on the numbers of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.||In Wakulla county, mandatory evacuations were ordered for special needs and Zone A residents. There were 133 trees down on roadways across the county and 115 power lines down. One home or business was destroyed with 4 sustaining major damage. There were an additional 43 with minor damage and 11 others affected. Approximately 14759 customers lost power in the county. Public assistance damage values were listed at $1,198,687. Additional individual assistance damage values were estimated at around $841,000 based on the numbers of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.||In Madison and Jefferson counties, there were numerous trees and power lines blown down. Public assistance damage values were listed at $722,908 for Madison county and $681,697 for Jefferson county.||In Leon county, there were numerous trees and power lines blown down across the county and city of Tallahassee. There were 45 homes or businesses destroyed, 187 suffered major damage, 259 suffered minor damage, and 238 were affected. An estimated 80 percent of the city of Tallahassee lost power with roughly 145,000 homes or businesses without power at the peak of the outage. On day 6 of the power outage, there were still 3685 residents without power. The peak wind gust measured in the county was 64 mph at the FSU campus, but some gusts were not recorded due to the widespread power outages, and the actual peak gust was likely higher than that. Public assistance damage values were listed at $8,771,036. Additional individual assistance damage values were estimated at about $21,200,000 based on the numbers of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.

A storm chaser reported a tornado on the ground with power flashes visible in rural Taylor county.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:35 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:52 UTC and running to 03:00 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 00:54 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.

Perry (FPY), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:38 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.

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 2016 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.