EF2 tornado, Fatio to De Land Muni Arpt, Florida, August 18, 2020

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

August 18, 2020

Touchdown

3:48 PM EDT (19:48 UTC)

Lifted

4:02 PM EDT (20:02 UTC)

On the ground

14 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.4 km)

Path width

550 yards (503 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$8.0 million

County

Volusia County

Touchdown point

29.035, -81.341

Lift-off point

29.055, -81.269

Record number

2008181348-01

64 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MLB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 111 mph.

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

Numerous thunderstorms developed along outflow boundary and sea breeze collisions. These storms produced two tornadoes in western Volusia County, including a rare August EF-2. In addition, other thunderstorms produced strong winds and hail along the Volusia and Brevard County coasts.

A National Weather Service Damage Survey confirmed that a strong tornado moved through North DeLand along a 4.6 mile long path with peak winds estimated between 110-120 mph. The tornado began around the intersection of W Minnesota Ave and N Ridgewood Ave, near the West Minnesota Estates neighborhood. The tornado generally tracked east-northeast across the city resulting in many downed medium to large tree branches, downed power lines, and numerous large trees were uprooted, which led to many local and major roadways being blocked. Many homes and vehicles suffered moderate to major damage as large tree branches or entire trees fell on them.||The tornado briefly intensified just southwest of the intersection of W Plymouth Avenue and N Spring Garden Avenue where EF-1 damage occurred. Two storage facility buildings suffered major roof collapse with winds estimated at 80-90 mph. The tornado continued to produce EF-0 damage along and south of W Plymouth Avenue as it moved towards Woodland Blvd. ||As the tornado reached Woodland Blvd. it quickly intensified and reached its widest point at approximately 550 yards. Extensive EF-1 damage was seen from Woodland Blvd. east to Amelia Avenue, and from E Kentucky Ave south to E Woodmont Road, with winds estimated between 90-100 mph. Damage was most significant along E Washington Ave between N Alabama Ave and N Amelia Ave, just east of US Hwy 17 where winds are estimated between 110-120 mph. Two homes had total roof loss, with a few others receiving moderate to major roof and structural damage. Several healthy tree trunks were found snapped and twisted near the base, with numerous smaller trees snapped midway. Videos taken along N Woodland Blvd revealed that a box delivery truck was tipped over and a car was flipped.||The tornado dissipated just east of the Lake Lindley subdivision between Jacobs Road and Lake Talmadge Drive where many large branches were snapped near the tops of the trees. ||There was one injury and no fatalities reported. Preliminary damage estimates from the Volusia County Property Appraiser indicate total damage of approximately $8,010,339. There were 163 damaged structures, with 49 sustaining minor damage, 40 sustaining major damage, and 5 that were destroyed.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:24 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 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.

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:46 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.