Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2020
EF0 tornado, Floridatown, Florida, April 19, 2020
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Santa Rosa County on April 19, 2020, touching down at 12:07 AM CDT 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.
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
- April 19, 2020
- Touchdown
- 12:07 AM CDT (05:07 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:08 AM CDT (05:08 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Santa Rosa County
- Touchdown point
- 30.608, -87.187
- Lift-off point
- 30.607, -87.184
- Record number
- 2004192307-01
The damage survey
2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.
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 powerful storm system swept across the southeast states through the day and into the overnight on the 19th into the 20th. Ahead of this system a warm front brought a very warm, moist and unstable air mass northward across the area. Numerous thunderstorms develop along and south of the warm front and became severe, producing wind damage tornadoes and large hail.
NWS Storm Survey found a brief EF-0 tornado track from Ephrem Ln to Bradley Dr in the city of Pace. The tornado resulted in tree damage and some roof damage to a home.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
6 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:01 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:39 UTC and running to 07:02 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:00 UTC | 07:05 UTC | Wind Advisory | MOB |
| 02:39 UTC | 07:02 UTC | Tornado Watch | MOB |
| 04:14 UTC | 05:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 04:41 UTC | 05:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 05:01 UTC | 05:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | MOB |
| 05:05 UTC | 05:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 05:10 UTC | 06:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 05:54 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:01 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 radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:06 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Molino | Escambia, FL | MEDIA REPORT OF TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN THE MOLINO COMMUNITY. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 05:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nw Cottage Hill | Escambia, FL | AN NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND A CORRIDOR OF SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE ON THE NORTH-SIDE OF CANTONMENT, FROM WEST QUINTETTE ROAD EAST SOUTHEAST TOWARD THE ESCAMBIA RIVER (SOUTH OF MCKENZIE ROAD AND EAST OF HIGHWAY95A.) ROOF DAM |
| 05:04 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nw Cottage Hill | Escambia, FL | SEVERAL HOMES LOST THEIR FENCES AND SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGES. ALSO, A REPORT OF LUMBER SPIKED INTO THE GROUND IN A YARD. REPORTS AND PICTURES VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 05:07 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Wnw Pace | Santa Rosa, FL | NWS STORM SURVEY FOUND THAT MOST OF THE WIND DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED IN PACE, FL WAS THE RESULT OF 70-80 MPH STRAIGHT LINE WIND. THIS RESULTED IN NUMEROUS DOWN TREES ACROSS THE CITY AS WELL AS ROOF DAMAGE TO SOME RESIDENCES |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Pace | Santa Rosa, FL | NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREE DAMAGE SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 90 IN PACE AND FLORIDATOWN. REPORTS VIA EMA AND VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Pace | Santa Rosa, FL | ROOF PEELED OFF HOUSE. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. |
| 05:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Pace | Santa Rosa, FL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN BETWEEN WOODBINE RD AND CHUMUCKLA HWY IN PACE. REPORTS VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 05:09 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Pace | Santa Rosa, FL | DAMAGE TO VEHICLES FROM DOWNED TREES. NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. |
| 05:10 UTC | TSTM WND GST 78 | 1 Wnw Gonzalez | Escambia, FL | WEATHERSTEM MESONET STATION NEAR GONZALEZ, FL MEASURED A WIND GUST OF 78 MPH. |
| 05:14 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 W Bagdad | Santa Rosa, FL | NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES DOWN. ROOF COLLAPSE TO ONE RESIDENCE. DAMAGE TO OTHER RESIDENCES IN THE AREA. |
| 05:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sw Bagdad | Santa Rosa, FL | TREES DOWN IN THE AREA. TREE IN A RESIDENCE. |
| 05:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Nnw Ensley | Escambia, FL | REPORTS OF SEVERAL TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN IN GONZALEZ AND ENSLEY. SOME ROADS IMPASSABLE. PICTURES AND REPORTS VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 06:58 UTC | TSTM WND GST 58 | 6 N Wright | Okaloosa, FL | A 58 MPH (50.3 KNOTS) THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST WAS MEASURED ON EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 19, 2020
20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 19 | 2:17 PM CDT | EF1 | Grant Parish, LA | 2.0 | 500 | |||
| April 19 | 4:50 PM CDT | EF1 | Vernon Parish, LA | 5.3 | 500 | $300,000 | ||
| April 19 | 7:09 PM CDT | EF4 | Sandy Hook–Camp Shelby tornado, MS | 53.8 | 2,275 | 1 | 1 | $700,000 |
| April 19 | 9:50 PM CDT | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 4.4 | 75 | |||
| April 19 | 10:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 3.0 | 300 | |||
| April 19 | 10:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, MS | 1.8 | 25 | |||
| April 19 | 10:47 PM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, MS | 0.5 | 10 | |||
| April 19 | 10:49 PM CDT | EF2 | Covington, AL | 1.2 | 300 | |||
| April 19 | 10:53 PM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, MS | 2.0 | 150 | |||
| April 19 | 10:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Mobile, AL | 8.9 | 100 | |||
| April 19 | 11:03 PM CDT | EF0 | Coffee, AL | 4.4 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| April 19 | 11:05 PM CDT | EF1 | Mobile, AL | 1.3 | 75 | |||
| April 19 | 11:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Mobile, AL | 3.2 | 75 | |||
| April 19 | 11:20 PM CDT | EF1 | Dale, AL | 24.4 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| April 19 | 11:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Geneva, AL | 1.8 | 100 | |||
| April 19 | 11:40 PM CDT | EF2 | Henry, AL | 5.2 | 300 | 1 | ||
| April 19 | 11:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Houston, AL | 0.7 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| April 19 | 11:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Henry, AL | 1.5 | 500 | $250,000 | ||
| April 19 | 11:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Baldwin, AL | 0.5 | 300 | |||
| April 19 | 11:46 PM CDT | EF1 | Henry, AL | 6.5 | 100 | $5,000 |
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.