EF1 tornado, Lamont to Madison, Florida, March 31, 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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 31, 2020

Touchdown

4:10 PM EDT (20:10 UTC)

Lifted

4:18 PM EDT (20:18 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

9.2 miles (14.8 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2,000

Counties

Jefferson and Madison counties

Touchdown point

30.315, -83.841

Lift-off point

30.337, -83.690

Record number

2003311410-01

17 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.

• Damaged pole has been replaced.
• Trees uprooted and snapped.

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

A strengthening surface low pressure area moved across the Tri-State region. A warm front lifted northward through the area, and a cold front moved through during the afternoon hours. Scattered thunderstorms moved across the area, some of which were severe.

Initial damage was noted in far eastern Jefferson County along HWY 257 near its intersection with Walker Spring Rd. Damage consisting of many hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees continued east northeast into Madison County eventually crossing HWY 19. There was also at least one wooden power pole snapped. This tornado was rated EF1 with max winds estimated at 90 mph.

Initial damage was noted in far eastern Jefferson County along HWY 257 near its intersection with Walker Spring Rd. Damage consisting of many hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees continued east northeast into Madison County eventually crossing HWY 19. There was also at least one wooden power pole snapped. This tornado was rated EF1 with max winds estimated at 90 mph.

Initial damage, consisting of a few dozen trees uprooted and snapped, was noted on a farm on the west side of HWY 221 just south of I-10. Damage, consisting of hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees, continued to the east northeast crossing Sundown Creek Rd. and eventually I-10. After the tornado crossed I-10 it moved into inaccessible areas of the Hixton Swamp Conservation Area. Based on radar the tornado remained on the ground continuously until damage became accessible again along HWY 360A just south of the intersection with CR 35. Damage to several trees at this location was the last damage evident from this tornado. Damage further northeast in Madison was from a separate brief spinup after this tornado lifted. This tornado was rated EF1 with max winds estimated at 90 mph.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:10 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:34 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:24 UTC and running to 22:02 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:11 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 Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:10 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

12 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.