Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2020

EF0 tornado, (Pbi)Palm Beach Arpt, Florida, July 14, 2020

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Palm Beach County on July 14, 2020, touching down at 6:45 PM EDT and reaching 25 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
July 14, 2020
Touchdown
6:45 PM EDT (22:45 UTC)
Lifted
6:48 PM EDT (22:48 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Palm Beach County
Touchdown point
26.710, -80.150
Lift-off point
26.710, -80.150
Record number
2007141645-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed along the sea breeze in the late afternoon over the interior and pushed towards the East Coast due to prevailing southerly/southwesterly flow. As these storms developed in the interior during peak heating hours, they produced a landspout.

Broadcast media relayed reports of an EF0 landspout tornado produced by a thunderstorm outflow boundary collision near Haverhill, FL. The landspout persisted for a few minutes. No damage reported.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:10 UTC23:33 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMFL

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 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 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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

10.8 hours before the tornado, 100 km from the path. July 14, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2020-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 803 joules per kilogram, CIN -35, lifted condensation level 1029 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2020-07-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 11 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
803 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3360 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1029 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 100 km from the path. July 15, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2020-07-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 815 joules per kilogram, CIN -68, lifted condensation level 1124 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2020-07-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -2 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
815 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-68 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3241 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1124 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

West Palm Beach (DJT), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:45 UTC130° 9 kt1016.9
20:50 UTC130° 10 kt1016.6
20:53 UTC9076120° 10 kt1016.9
20:55 UTC130° 9 kt1016.9
21:00 UTC130° 10 kt1016.9
21:05 UTC130° 11 kt1016.6
21:10 UTC130° 10 kt1016.6
21:15 UTC140° 10 kt1016.6
21:20 UTC150° 13 kt1016.6
21:25 UTC130° 11 kt1016.6
21:30 UTC140° 10 kt1016.6
21:35 UTC130° 11 kt1016.6
21:40 UTC140° 11 kt1016.6
21:45 UTC150° 9 kt1016.9
21:50 UTC140° 10 kt1016.9
21:53 UTC9076130° 9 kt1016.9
21:55 UTC120° 10 kt1016.9
22:00 UTC130° 8 kt1016.6
22:05 UTC130° 10 kt1016.6
22:10 UTC110° 11 kt1016.6
22:14 UTC9076120° 12 kt1016.6TS
22:15 UTC120° 11 kt1016.6
22:20 UTC120° 11 kt1016.9
22:25 UTC 13 kt1017.3
22:30 UTC140° 11 kt1017.3
22:35 UTC 11 kt1017.3
22:40 UTC140° 14 kt1016.9
22:45 UTC140° 16 kt1016.6
22:50 UTC160° 11 kt1017.6
22:53 UTC8875200° 16 kt251018.6TS
22:55 UTC 13 kt1018.6-RA
23:00 UTC 13 kt191018.6
23:02 UTC8472280° 12 kt221018.6TS
23:05 UTC 14 kt1018.6
23:10 UTC300° 22 kt1019RA BR
23:13 UTC7770350° 16 kt301018.6+TSRA BR
23:15 UTC 18 kt1018.6+RA BR
23:20 UTC 16 kt1017.9+RA BR
23:25 UTC 18 kt1017.6+RA BR
23:26 UTC7571350° 16 kt1017.6+TSRA BR
23:30 UTC 15 kt1017.6+RA BR
23:32 UTC7468350° 14 kt1017.6-TSRA BR
23:35 UTC 11 kt1017.6-RA BR
23:40 UTC30° 5 kt1017.3-RA
23:45 UTC30° 4 kt1017.3-RA
23:50 UTC120° 5 kt1016.9-RA
23:53 UTC7668130° 7 kt1016.9TS
23:55 UTC130° 7 kt1016.9
00:00 UTC120° 5 kt1016.9
00:05 UTC150° 4 kt1017.3
00:09 UTC7770200° 9 kt1017.6
00:10 UTC200° 10 kt1017.6
00:15 UTC210° 7 kt1017.9
00:20 UTC220° 5 kt1017.9
00:25 UTC250° 5 kt1017.9
00:30 UTC220° 5 kt1017.9
00:35 UTC220° 5 kt1017.9
00:40 UTC230° 2 kt1017.9

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:44 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:11 UTCTSTM WND GST 463 Nw Sandalfoot CovePalm Beach, FLEARTH NETWORKS STATION. ID BCRGR.
22:45 UTCTORNADO2 Nw HaverhillPalm Beach, FLDELAYED REPORT... BROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED REPORTS OF AN EF0 LANDSPOUT TORNADO PRODUCED BY A THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW BOUNDARY COLLISION NEAR HAVERHILL, FL. THE LANDSPOUT PERSISTED FOR A FEW MINUTES AND NO DAMAGE WAS REPORTED
22:51 UTCTSTM WND GST 482 N Florida GardensPalm Beach, FLEARTH NETWORKS STATION. ID WSTPB.
23:05 UTCHAIL 0.253 Wsw Riviera BeachPalm Beach, FL
23:11 UTCTSTM WND GST 442 Sse Riviera BeachPalm Beach, FLWEATHER FLOW STATION. ID XMGN.

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 July 14, 2020

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 143:24 PM CDTEF0Hancock, MS0.325$8,000
July 147:00 PM MDTUnratedBent, CO2.350
July 148:02 PM CDTUnratedHansford, TX1.350

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.