Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2020
EF0 tornado, Portland, Florida, March 31, 2020
This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Walton County on March 31, 2020, touching down at 12:55 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $2,000 of property damage.
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
- March 31, 2020
- Touchdown
- 12:55 PM CDT (17:55 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:56 PM CDT (17:56 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $2,000
- County
- Walton County
- Touchdown point
- 30.462, -86.195
- Lift-off point
- 30.462, -86.192
- Record number
- 2003311155-01
The damage survey
1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.
- Snapped tree and minor roof damage as apparent waterspout moved ashore.
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 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.
A waterspout moved onshore. A tree was snapped and caused some minor roof damage to a home. This tornado was rated EF0 with max winds estimated at 70 mph.
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.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:56 UTC and running to 20:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Rip Currents Statement | TAE |
| 13:56 UTC | 20:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 15:00 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TAE |
| 16:08 UTC | 17:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 17:14 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 18:12 UTC | 19:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
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. The outlook in force was issued at 15:56 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 radar
The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:53 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:33 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 53 | Eglin Afb | Okaloosa, FL | AWOS STATION KVPS EGLIN AFB MEASURED A MARINE WIND GUST OF 53 MPH. |
| 17:37 UTC | TSTM WND GST 53 | 1 Nne Eglin Afb | Okaloosa, FL | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND GST REPORT FROM 1 NNE EGLIN AFB. |
| 17:55 UTC | TORNADO | 3 S Portland | Walton, FL | APPARENT WATER SPOUT MOVED ONSHORE, SNAPPING A TREE AND CAUSING SOME MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO A HOME. |
| 18:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Freeport | Walton, FL | REPORT OF TREES DOWN IN THE AREA AROUND FREEPORT. |
| 20:23 UTC | TSTM WND GST 53 | 1 Nne Eglin Afb | Okaloosa, FL |
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 March 31, 2020
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 31 | 9:30 AM CDT | EF1 | George, MS | 8.2 | 50 | |||
| March 31 | 10:23 AM CDT | EF0 | Montgomery, AL | 3.3 | 190 | |||
| March 31 | 10:33 AM CDT | EF0 | Pike, AL | 0.1 | 80 | |||
| March 31 | 10:34 AM CDT | EF0 | Pike, AL | 1.6 | 80 | |||
| March 31 | 10:51 AM CDT | EF0 | Pike, AL | 0.8 | 180 | |||
| March 31 | 11:34 AM CDT | EF2 | Barbour, AL to GA | 30.0 | 350 | 1 | $50,000 | |
| March 31 | 4:10 PM EDT | EF1 | Jefferson, FL | 9.2 | 150 | $2,000 | ||
| March 31 | 4:17 PM EDT | EF1 | Madison, FL | 11.7 | 100 | |||
| March 31 | 4:33 PM EDT | EF0 | Madison, FL | 0.1 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| March 31 | 5:26 PM EDT | EF0 | Suwannee, FL | 0.8 | 704 | |||
| March 31 | 2:30 PM PDT | EF0 | Benton, WA | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 31 | 7:29 PM EDT | EF0 | Saint Johns, FL | 0.4 | 704 |
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.