Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2019

EF0 tornado, Saint Johns County, Florida, December 14, 2019

Name: EF0 tornado, Saint Johns County, Florida, December 14, 2019
Start: 2019-12-14T10:05:00.000Z
End: 2019-12-14T10:07:00.000Z
Location: Saint Johns County, Florida

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Saint Johns County on December 14, 2019, touching down at 5:05 AM EST and reaching 325 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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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: EF0
Date: December 14, 2019
Touchdown: 5:05 AM EST (10:05 UTC)
Lifted: 5:07 AM EST (10:07 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width: 325 yards (297 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Saint Johns County
Touchdown point: 29.784, -81.427
Lift-off point: 29.785, -81.424
Record number: 1912140405-01

The damage survey

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The warnings

25 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:40 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
01:15 UTC	07:00 UTC	Dense Fog Advisory	JAX
09:40 UTC	10:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	JAX
10:14 UTC	10:30 UTC	Tornado Warning	JAX

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 05:43 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), 00:00Z

10.1 hours before the tornado, 84 km from the path. December 14, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 651 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 184 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 4.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

1.9 hours after it, 84 km from the path. December 14, 2019.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -75108 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 481 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1268 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -207 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.3
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:06 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
09:10 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	W Interlachen	Putnam, FL	POTENTIAL TORNADO DAMAGE IN WEST INTERLACHEN. WIDESPREAD REPORTS OF TREES DOWN, POWER LINES DOWN AND EXTERIOR BUILDING STRUCTURE DAMAGE. TIME OF DAMAGE WAS BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY.
09:25 UTC	TSTM WND GST 0	2 Nne Interlachen	Putnam, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE JUST NNE OF INTERLACHEN ALONG MALTAS AVENUE IN THE INTERLACHEN LAKE ESTATES AREA. REPORTS OF STRUCTURAL AND TREE DAMAGE. WITNESSES REPORTED LOAD ROADING TRAIN SOUND. TIME OF DAMAGE WAS BASED ON RA
09:30 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	Palatka	Putnam, FL	WIND DAMAGE IN PALATKA INCLUDING TREES DOWN AND POWERLINES DOWN. TIME OF EVENT BASED ON RADAR.
09:35 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	3 Nne Interlachen	Putnam, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. WIND DAMAGE ALONG MARION AVENUE NNE OF INTERLACHEN NEAR THE FOLWER AREA INCLUDING TREES DOWN AND SOME STRUCTURE DAMAGE NOTED TO FENCES. TIME OF DAMAGE WAS BASED ON RADRA.
10:05 UTC	TORNADO	Elkton	St. Johns, FL	TRAINED STORM SPOTTER REPORTED ABOUT A 50 YARD TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR STATE ROAD 207 AND COUNTY ROAD 305 IN ELKTON. TREE DEBRIS, SHINGLES AND TIN ROOF REPORTED IN TREES AND ACROSS THE GROUND.
10:06 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	N Elkton	St. Johns, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. KITCHEN AND BATH STORE SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE AS WELL AS DAMAGE TO THEIR SUPPLIES INCLUDING SOLID SURFACE COUNTERTOPS.
10:20 UTC	FUNNEL CLOUD	5 Wsw Saint Augustine B	St. Johns, FL	FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED OVER 762 GILDA DRIVE.
10:30 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Ssw Flagler Beach	Flagler, FL	POTENTIAL TORNADO DAMAGE. TREE DOWN THROUGH ROOF OF HOME ALONG 20 CREEK BLUFF RUN IN BULOWVILLE.
10:30 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	4 Se Bunnell	Flagler, FL	TREES DOWN NEAR US-1 AND SEMINOLE WOODS BLVD. RADAR ESTIMATED TIME.
10:32 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	5 Se Bunnell	Flagler, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. MANY ROADS ARE CLOSED NEAR KORONA INCLUDING COUNTY ROAD 330 DUE TO WIDESPREAD TREE DAMAGE.
10:32 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	6 Se Bunnell	Flagler, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. SEVERAL STRUCTURES WITH DAMAGE IN KORONA BEHIND THE WHITE EAGLE LOUNGE.
10:33 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	5 Se Bunnell	Flagler, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. ROOF OFF AND WINDOWS BLOWN OUT ON HOUSE. NO INJURIES.
10:36 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Sse Flagler Beach	Flagler, FL	POTENTIAL TORNADO DAMAGE. SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE INCLUDING A FLIPPED MOTORHOME, DECK AND ROOF DAMAGE AND TWISTED DEBRIS AROUND TREES ALONG SOUTH 28TH STREET IN FLAGLER BEACH. TIME OF DAMAGE WAS BAS
10:36 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	3 S Flagler Beach	Flagler, FL	POSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE INCLUDING TWISTED OAK TRUNKS AND TREES DOWN ALONG CREEK BLUFF RUN. TIME OF DAMAGE WAS BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY.
10:40 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Sse Flagler Beach	Flagler, FL	POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES DOWN, POWER LINES AND SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE BETWEEN SOUTH FLAGLER BEACH AND BULOWVILLE. TIME OF DAMAGE BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY.
10:40 UTC	TSTM WND DMG	2 Sse Flagler Beach	Flagler, FL	POTENTIAL TORNADO DAMAGE. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF DEBRIS ACROSS ROADS AND STREET LIGHT DAMAGE BETWEEN S 23RD STREET AND S 28TH STREET IN SOUTH FLAGLER BEACH. TIME BASED ON RADAR IMAGERY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2019 tornado in Florida Every tornado in Florida since 1950 Warnings in force in Florida now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 14, 2019

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 14	3:53 AM EST	EF0	Alachua, FL	0.2	45
December 14	5:14 AM EST	EF1	Flagler, FL	19.4	880

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.