Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2021

EF0 tornado, Jan Phyl Vlg to Eagle Lake, Florida, April 11, 2021

From Jan Phyl Vlg to Eagle Lake, this EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Polk County on April 11, 2021, touching down at 12:18 PM EDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $15,000 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.

  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
April 11, 2021
Touchdown
12:18 PM EDT (16:18 UTC)
Lifted
12:19 PM EDT (16:19 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
1.4 miles (2.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$15,000
Crop damage
$2,000
County
Polk County
Touchdown point
27.999, -81.785
Lift-off point
27.993, -81.762
Record number
2104111018-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TBW, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 76 mph.

  • Damage to flat roof of home. Time estimated by radar velocity signature.
  • Tree on home. Times estimated by radar velocity signature.

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

Shortwave disturbance over Mid-South/Tennessee Valley region and attendant surface low with cold front extending south into the Gulf of Mexico produced a mesoscale convective system (MCS) ahead of the front that moved across the eastern gulf into West-Central and Southwest Florida, spawning a tornado and multiple, separate wind damage reports along with hail. One indirect fatality resulted when a motorist exited a vehicle due to a downed tree and inadvertently contacted a live power line.

Roof damage from wind and downed trees reported to multiple homes near Spirit Lake and Eagle Lake. Time estimated by radar velocity signature.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 12:15 UTC and running to 18:59 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:15 UTC18:59 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchTBW
17:01 UTC17:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBW

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:58 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.

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z

4.3 hours before the tornado, 70 km from the path. April 11, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1004 joules per kilogram, CIN -131, lifted condensation level 1005 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-04-11The 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 288 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1004 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-131 J/kg
Surface CAPE
16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1005 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
288 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z

7.7 hours after it, 70 km from the path. April 12, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-04-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -37737, lifted condensation level 1449 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-04-12The 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 651 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37737 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1449 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
651 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
693 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:15 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
16:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S KathleenPolk, FLSNAPPED POWER POLE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
16:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGLakelandPolk, FLROOF DAMAGE TO THE LAKE WIRE INN.
16:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 N Eagle LakePolk, FLTREE FELL ON HOME.
16:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nw Eagle LakePolk, FLDAMAGE TO ROOF DUE TO FALLEN TREE. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
16:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W Eagle LakePolk, FLDAMAGE TO FLAT ROOF.
16:24 UTCTSTM WND GST 553 Wsw InwoodPolk, FLMESONET STATION AU493 WINTER HAVEN.
16:31 UTCTSTM WND GST 447 Nw LoughmanPolk, FLMESONET STATION EW2910 DAVENPORT.
16:40 UTCHAIL 0.755 Sw CelebrationPolk, FLTRAINED SPOTTER REPORTS PENNY SIZE HAIL NEAR LAKE WILSON ROAD AND CR-532.
16:42 UTCTSTM WND GST 46Kissimmee AirportOsceola, FLAWOS AT KISSIMMEE GATEWAY MEASURED A PEAK WIND GUST OF 40KT OR 46MPH FROM THE WNW.
16:53 UTCTSTM WND GST 482 Sw Lake AlfredPolk, FLASOS STATION KGIF WINTER HAVEN.
17:15 UTCTSTM WND GST 476 Sse West Lake TohoOsceola, FLSFWMD STATION ON THE SOUTH EDGE OF LAKE TOHO MEASURED A PEAK WIND GUST OF 47MPH.
17:20 UTCHAIL 21 Ne WauchulaHardee, FLTIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
17:25 UTCHAIL 11 E WauchulaHardee, FLHAIL UP TO 1 INCH REPORTED JUST EAST OF WAUCHULA.
18:01 UTCTSTM WND GST 5413 Ene Avon ParkPolk, FLMESONET STATION TT601 AVON PARK AFR NORTH.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

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.