Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2021

EF0 tornado, River Bridge, Florida, February 6, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Indian River County on February 6, 2021, touching down at 4:12 PM EST and reaching 65 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
February 6, 2021
Touchdown
4:12 PM EST (21:12 UTC)
Lifted
4:13 PM EST (21:13 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
65 yards (59 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Indian River County
Touchdown point
27.736, -80.532
Lift-off point
27.738, -80.532
Record number
2102061512-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A thunderstorm produced a brief, weak tornado (landspout) in Vero Lakes Estates, resulting in minor damage to fences and trees.

Based on radar, video, and eyewitness reports received from the public, a brief EF-0 tornado (landspout) occurred in Vero Lakes Estates. Peak estimated wind speeds were between 65 and 70 mph. The landspout tornado formed at approximately 1612 LST at 100th Avenue, just north of 77th Street, in Vero Lakes Estates. The tornado traveled a relatively short distance, moving almost due north along 100th Avenue, then dissipated just before reaching 79th Street at approximately 1613 LST. Several properties sustained minor fence damage and many had unsecured backyard items scattered around. There was also minor tree damage along the street.

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.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 12:00Z

9.2 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. February 6, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-02-06Temperature 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 -91336, lifted condensation level 871 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2021-02-06The 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 160 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-91336 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
871 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
315 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), 00:00Z

2.8 hours after it, 82 km from the path. February 7, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-02-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 947 joules per kilogram, CIN -43, lifted condensation level 775 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 2021-02-07The 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 293 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
947 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-43 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1439 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
775 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
293 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
360 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.0
Supercell composite
9.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:12 UTCTORNADO4 Ese FellsmereIndian River, FLBASED ON RADAR, VIDEO, AND EYEWITNESS REPORTS, NWS MELBOURNE CAN CONFIRM A BRIEF, WEAK EF-0 LANDSPOUT TORNADO OCCURRED IN VERO LAKES ESTATES AT 412 PM ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6.
21:38 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 E FellsmereIndian River, FLPUBLIC REPORTS A SHORT LIVED FUNNEL CLOUD JUST NORTH OF SEBASTIAN RIVER HIGH SCHOOL.
21:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ese FellsmereIndian River, FLPUBLIC REPORTS FENCE DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF 79TH STREET AND 100 AVE IN VERO LAKES ESTATES, ALONG WITH SOME BACKYARD ITEMS THROWN ABOUT. POSSIBLE BRIEF TORNADO MAY HAVE TOUCHED DOWN.

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.