Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2019
EF1 tornado, (Pam)Tyndall Afb, Florida, January 19, 2019
This EF1 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Bay County on January 19, 2019, touching down at 6:22 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 of property damage.
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
- January 19, 2019
- Touchdown
- 6:22 PM CST (00:22 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:23 PM CST (00:23 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- Bay County
- Touchdown point
- 30.072, -85.607
- Lift-off point
- 30.079, -85.597
- Record number
- 1901191822-01
The damage survey
3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.
- Metal roof lifted up on building. Image courtesy Tyndall AFB.
- Car moved and windows blown out. Image courtesy Tyndall AFB.
- Metal dumpsters flipped on their sides.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong cold front moved through the area, accompanied by a line of strong to severe storms with impacts to trees and power lines.
A brief, EF1 tornado with winds of 90 mph touched down on Tyndall Air Force Base. The tornado moved a car, broke car windows, tore a portion of a new roof off of barracks and flipped dumpsters and garbage cans on their sides. The tornado damage was surveyed by base personnel.
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.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:22 UTC and running to 02:18 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 09:00 UTC | Rip Currents Statement | TAE |
| 21:00 UTC | 00:00 UTC | High Surf Advisory | TAE |
| 21:00 UTC | 12:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TAE |
| 21:22 UTC | 02:18 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 23:24 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 00:30 UTC | 01:02 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
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 19:51 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:05 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 48 | 6 Ne West Bay | Bay, FL | ASOS STATION ECP, NORTHWEST FLORIDA - INTERNATIONAL APRT. |
| 23:57 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 43 | 1 Ene Gulf Resort Beach | Bay, FL | MESONET STATION XPAN, GULF RESORT BEACH. |
| 00:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nw Callaway | Bay, FL | TELEPHONE POLLS DOWN. |
| 00:22 UTC | TORNADO | Tyndall Afb | Bay, FL | A BRIEF EF-1 TORNADO WITH WINDS OF 90 MPH TOUCHED DOWN ON TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE. THE TORNADO MOVED A CAR, BROKE CAR WINDOWS, TORE A PORTION OF A NEW ROOF OFF OF BARRACKS AND FLIPPED DUMPSTERS AND GARBAGE CANS ON THEIR S |
| 00:26 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 43 | Tyndall Afb | Bay, FL | AWOS STATION PAM, TYNDALL AFB. |
| 01:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Scotts Ferry | Calhoun, FL | TREE DOWN ACROSS SCOTTS FERRY ROAD. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of January 19, 2019
10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 19 | 6:42 AM CST | EF1 | Leake, MS | 1.4 | 250 | $45,000 | ||
| January 19 | 7:38 AM CST | EF0 | Rankin, MS | 2.7 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| January 19 | 7:44 AM CST | EF1 | Rankin, MS | 2.5 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| January 19 | 8:43 AM CST | EF0 | Neshoba, MS | 0.3 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| January 19 | 9:22 AM CST | EF1 | Tangipahoa Parish, LA | 1.1 | 50 | |||
| January 19 | 9:44 AM CST | EF1 | Washington Parish, LA | 3.0 | 75 | |||
| January 19 | 1:47 PM CST | EF1 | Dallas, AL | 6.1 | 75 | |||
| January 19 | 2:04 PM CST | EF1 | Autauga, AL | 9.1 | 400 | 2 | ||
| January 19 | 2:52 PM CST | EF2 | Elmore, AL | 18.1 | 700 | 4 | ||
| January 19 | 2:58 PM CST | EF1 | Coosa, AL | 1.7 | 112 |
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.