Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2022

EF1 tornado, Hammond, Florida, March 12, 2022

This EF1 tornado ran 5.3 miles across Putnam County on March 12, 2022, touching down at 9:03 AM EST and reaching 70 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
March 12, 2022
Touchdown
9:03 AM EST (14:03 UTC)
Lifted
9:20 AM EST (14:20 UTC)
On the ground
17 minutes
Path length
5.3 miles (8.5 km)
Path width
70 yards (64 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Putnam County
Touchdown point
29.362, -81.556
Lift-off point
29.384, -81.472
Record number
2203120803-01

The damage survey

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 88 mph.

  • North side of Clifton road, numerous trees snapped, farming outhouse roof completely torn off.

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

Strong to severe storms moved across the local area during the early morning hours ahead of a potent cold front. Severe storms with wind gusts of 50-60 mph and tornadoes moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico and tracked south of the I-10 corridor across NE Florida. Two EF1 tornadoes occurred, one in Marion county then another Putnam county between 8 am and 915 am. Strong pressure rises trailed the front during the late morning which caused high non-thunderstorm wind gusts of 40-55 mph into the afternoon.

A line of strong to severe storms moved west to east across Putnam County during the morning of Saturday, March 12th, ahead of a strong cold front. A supercell moving across southern Putnam county and produced an EF1 tornado with peak winds near 93 mph from about 4 miles W of Bakerstown to 3 miles NNE of Bakerstown. Damage along the path included downed and snapped trees, mostly in rural areas. The damage path began near South Georgetown Point Road, crossed U.S. Highway 17 and ended at Crescent Lake north of Clifton Road near Eagle Trail and Osprey Lane. One outbuilding has some structure damage between Duck Drive and Eagle Trail, just north of Clifton Road.

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 08:40 UTC and running to 14:12 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:42 UTC21:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX
08:40 UTC14:12 UTCTornado WatchJAX
12:00 UTC23:59 UTCWind AdvisoryJAX
13:37 UTC14:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAX

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:49 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.

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 12:00Z

2.1 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. March 12, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2022-03-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 902 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 482 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, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2022-03-12The 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 514 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 79 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
902 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
643 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
482 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
79 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
514 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
616 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.4
Supercell composite
10.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

9.9 hours after it, 127 km from the path. March 13, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2022-03-13Temperature 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 -94741, lifted condensation level 1821 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, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2022-03-13The 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 -145 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 109 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
-94741 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1821 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
109 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Bunnell (FIN), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
12:50 UTC71.669.8210° 15 kt251007.1
13:50 UTC71.669.8210° 10 kt201007.5RA
14:50 UTC71.669.8250° 10 kt181008.8RA
15:50 UTC69.868250° 10 kt201008.8RA

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

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
11:45 UTCTORNADO5 E OcalaMarion, FLEF-1 TORNADO, ESTIMATED PEAK WIND 110 MPH. PATH LENGTH 26.67 MILES, PATH WIDTH 65 YARDS.
12:16 UTCTORNADO5 E OcalaMarion, FLCORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 5 E OCALA. REPORT CORRECTED FOR TIMING. EF-1 TORNADO, ESTIMATED PEAK WIND 110 MPH. PATH LENGTH 26.67 MILES, PATH WIDTH 65 YARDS.
14:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Sse Crescent CityPutnam, FLREPORT FROM PUTNAM CO. EM OF POSSIBLE TORNADO AND DAMAGE TO 2 HOMES AT 120 EAGLE TRAIL, CRESCENT CITY.
14:26 UTCTSTM WND GST 421 Nne Flagler BeachFlagler, FLSPOTTER REPORT RELAYED BY FLAGLER CO. EM OF WIND 42 MPH.
14:29 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Wnw Flagler BeachFlagler, FLREPORT OF TREE DOWN AT ROBERTS RD. AND BEACH VILLAGE WAY. REPORT OF WOODEN FRAME SECTION IN A CONCRETE WALL HAS BLOWN OVER.
15:31 UTCTORNADO5 Sse Crescent CityPutnam, FLREPORT FROM PUTNAM COUNTY EM OF EVIDENCE OF TORNADO DAMAGE AND DEBRIS PATH. PATH NEAR LAKE GEORGE ACROSS WETLAND/WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ACROSS HWY 17 EASTWARD ALONG CLIFTON ROAD TO EAGLE TRAIL REPORT OF 2 HOMES DAMAGE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 12, 2022

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 127:45 AM ESTEF1Marion, FL26.665
March 128:06 AM ESTEF1Hernando, FL5.8100$50,000
March 1211:45 AM ESTEF1Highlands, FL0.750
March 1212:09 PM ESTEF0Lee, FL0.050$1,000

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.