Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2017

EF1 tornado, Saint Johns County, Florida, September 10, 2017

This EF1 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Saint Johns County on September 10, 2017, touching down at 1:40 PM EDT 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 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
September 10, 2017
Touchdown
1:40 PM EDT (17:40 UTC)
Lifted
1:45 PM EDT (17:45 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Saint Johns County
Touchdown point
29.900, -81.310
Lift-off point
29.900, -81.330
Record number
1709101140-01

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:02 UTC and running to 03:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:02 UTC03:50 UTCTornado WatchJAX
16:05 UTC16:30 UTCMarine WarningJAX
03:50 UTC12:00 UTCTornado WatchJAX

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 16:05 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, 76 km from the path. September 10, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2017-09-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 396 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 476 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2017-09-10The 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 226 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 knots.193958Sfc1 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
396 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
754 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
476 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
226 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
2.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

6.3 hours after it, 76 km from the path. September 11, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2017-09-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 270 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 514 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2017-09-11The 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 282 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.193958Sfc1 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
270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
474 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
282 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
319 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:38 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
16:00 UTCTROPICAL STORM2 N MayportDuval, FLMESONET STATION MEASURED SUSTAINED WIND OF 43 MPH FROM THE NE WITH A GUST OF 53 MPH.
16:10 UTCTROPICAL STORM1 W ArlingtonDuval, FLMESONET STATION MEASURED SUSTAINED WINDS OF 34 MPH FROM THE NE WITH A GUST OF 56 MPH.
17:16 UTCTROPICAL STORMPalm CoastFlagler, FLEMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTS WATER TO THE TOP OF THE SEA WALL IN PALM COAST.
19:00 UTCTROPICAL STORM4 Nnw Flagler BeachFlagler, FLTRAINED SPOTTER REPORTS LINES DOWN AT THE BEVERLY BEACH CAMPTOWN RV RESORT.
19:00 UTCTROPICAL STORMFlagler BeachFlagler, FLHOUSE REPORTED TO HAVE LOST SHINGLES AND SIDING NEAR A1A AND 23RD STREET IN FLAGLER BEACH DUE TO WINDS.
20:10 UTCTROPICAL STORM1 Ene Fort CarolineDuval, FLMESONET STATION MEASURED SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 MPH FROM THE NE WITH A GUST OF 53 MPH.

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

The other tornadoes of September 10, 2017

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 108:59 AM EDTEF1Hardee, FL0.050$40,000
September 109:19 AM EDTEF0Brevard, FL0.250
September 1011:00 AM EDTEF1Brevard, FL1.375
September 1011:19 AM EDTEF2Polk, FL0.650$20,000
September 1011:24 AM EDTEF1Brevard, FL1.275
September 105:48 PM EDTEF2Brevard, FL1.6125
September 106:00 PM EDTEF1Brevard, FL0.560
September 106:28 PM EDTEF1Lake, FL3.8500
September 107:50 PM EDTEF1Saint Johns, FL5.0200
September 108:13 PM EDTEF0Flagler, FL4.1200
September 109:04 PM EDTEF1Volusia, FL0.8175
September 109:04 PM EDTEF1Brevard, FL1.250
September 109:14 PM EDTEF1Brevard, FL0.360
September 109:48 PM EDTEF1Brevard, FL3.460
September 101:15 AM EDTEF2Saint Johns, FL1.2300

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.