EF2 tornado, Ulmerton to Feather Sound, Florida, December 16, 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

December 16, 2020

Touchdown

3:49 PM EST (20:49 UTC)

Lifted

4:11 PM EST (21:11 UTC)

On the ground

22 minutes

Path length

13.1 miles (21.1 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$16 million

County

Pinellas County

Touchdown point

27.864, -82.752

Lift-off point

27.934, -82.553

Record number

2012161449-01

19 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TBW, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 121 mph.

• Heavy damage. Fire Rescue on scene
• Damage to warehouse, trees down
• Insulation on fence at KPIE
• 4 structures damaged in Club Bayou development

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

Low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico moved into the Florida Panhandle with a trailing cold front moving through West Central Florida in the afternoon. A surge of moisture ahead of the front created a brief opportunity for strong and locally severe storms. The strongest thunderstorm cell tracked from central Pinellas County to north of Plant City, then into north Lakeland, dropping a tornado sporadically along its path.

Tornado formed near Bayou Club near Pinellas Park, then crossed Belcher Road and hit an industrial park where the greatest damage was observed. Buildings had uplift and removal of roof decking, outer walls collapsed. Two buildings were destroyed and five had major|damage. Several buildings in a boat storage facility had major damage and large 2-ton boats where thrown about. The damage became more spotty as it approached U.S. Highway 19. Insulation debris collected on a fence near the Saint Pete/Clearwater International Airport. Video on social media showed the tornado crossing the Howard Franklin Bridge (Interstate 275) with debris and a light pole dropping in front of the observer. The tornado then weakened and lifted as it reached the eastern edge of the Howard Franklin Bridge with no further damage observed. In total, 4 warehouses were destroyed with 9 receiving major damage and 6 others receiving minor damage. 1 home received major damage and 17 others received minor damage.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS TBW issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:48 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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 Tampa radar (KTBW), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:47 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.