Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2017

EF0 tornado, Live Oak Suwane Arpt, Florida, January 7, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Suwannee County on January 7, 2017, touching down at 1:30 AM 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.

  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
January 7, 2017
Touchdown
1:30 AM EST (06:30 UTC)
Lifted
1:32 AM EST (06:32 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Suwannee County
Touchdown point
30.274, -83.051
Lift-off point
30.275, -83.047
Record number
1701070030-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A surface low pressure system formed in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of an approaching Arctic cold front. Scattered storms moved inland across the Florida Big Bend during the evening of the 6th and continued to track and develop eastward through the night ahead of the surface front. Hail and gusty winds occurred in isolated severe storms overnight.

Storm survey by county EM team indicated a brief EF0 tornado that touchdown near the intersection of 96th Place and 147th Road, with damage extending east along 96th Place before the circulation dissipated. Max winds were estimated near 80 mph. Several properties had damage including roof damage, extensive tree damage and other structural damage.

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
06:44 UTC07:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
06:54 UTC07:25 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

6.5 hours before the tornado, 121 km from the path. January 7, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2017-01-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 26 joules per kilogram, CIN -30, lifted condensation level 717 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2017-01-07The 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 105 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 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
26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Surface CAPE
579 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
717 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

5.5 hours after it, 121 km from the path. January 7, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2017-01-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 500 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2017-01-07The 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 -154 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 78 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
500 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
78 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-154 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
0.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:31 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
06:30 UTCTORNADO 04 Wsw Live OakSuwannee, FLSTORM SURVEY INDICATED A VERY BRIEF EF0 TORNADO WITH WINDS UP TO 80 MPH PRODUCED A QUARTER MILE OF DAMAGE THAT EXTENDED FROM NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF 96TH PLACE AND 147TH ROAD TOWARD THE EAST ALONG 96TH PLACE. SEVERAL PR
06:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wsw Live OakSuwannee, FLEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTED LARGE TREES UPROOTED NEAR COUNTY ROAD 136 AND 96TH PLACE IN LIVE OAK. THERE WERE ALSO REPORTS OF DAMAGE TO CARS AND HOMES. THE TIME GIVEN WAS BASED ON RADAR.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 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.