Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2023

EF0 tornado, Russell to Green Cove Spgs, Florida, September 26, 2023

From Russell to Green Cove Spgs, this EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Clay County on September 26, 2023, touching down at 5:05 PM EDT and reaching 5 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
September 26, 2023
Touchdown
5:05 PM EDT (21:05 UTC)
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
5 yards (5 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Clay County
Touchdown point
29.990, -81.660
Lift-off point
29.990, -81.660
Record number
2309261505-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak surface front was near the FL-GA state-line with moist, unstable conditions south of the boundary across NE FL. Diurnally enhanced storms further intensified into the afternoon and early evening as a short-wave trough moved across the area from the west. Storm motion was slow, so locally heavy rainfall was a concern near storm mergers.

A witness reported a land spout that last for about 4 minutes and tracked WSW to ENE across a construction site just south of Sandridge Road near Feed Mill Road. The vortex crossed over a construction site where it lifted garbage debris and dust. Structure damage did not occur.

The public reported a landspout touchdown just west of the Shands Bridge near Green Cove Springs. The time of the event was based on radar. The width of the tornado was approximated. There was not noted damage.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:23 UTC23:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryJAX

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:54 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

9.1 hours before the tornado, 57 km from the path. September 26, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 12:00Z on 2023-09-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1016 joules per kilogram, CIN -36, lifted condensation level 800 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 2023-09-26The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1016 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Surface CAPE
622 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
800 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), 00:00Z

2.9 hours after it, 57 km from the path. September 27, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 2023-09-27Temperature 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 -79549, lifted condensation level 805 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 2023-09-27The 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 -193 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.193958Sfc1 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
-79549 J/kg
Surface CAPE
307 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
805 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-193 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:02 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
20:40 UTCLANDSPOUT1 N Asbury LakeClay, FLAction News JAX posted a public video of a landspout or a brief tornado touchdown in the vicinity of Lake Asbury. No immediate reports of damage were available. Time of event based on radar data.
20:40 UTCLANDSPOUT3 E Asbury LakeClay, FLThis an updated to the previous report of a landspout near Lake Asbury. A witness reported that the spout lasted for 3-5 minutes and tracked WSW to ENE for about 0.75 mile across a construction site. Debris including con
21:05 UTCLANDSPOUT1 Ese Green Cove SpringClay, FLPublic report of a landspout or a brief tornado touchdown just west of the Shands Bridge near Green Cove Springs. Time of event based on radar data.
21:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Wsw South Ponte VedraSt. Johns, FLFPL reported that a tree or branch damaged electrical equipment near Sherry Lane. The time of damage was based on radar.
21:45 UTCFLOOD3 Sw South Ponte VedraSt. Johns, FLSt. Johns County Emergency Management reports significant flooding along and east of U.S. Highway 1 in the vicinity of Palencia. Water is covering neighborhood roads north of the St. Augustine Airport.
21:45 UTCFLOOD3 Sw South Ponte VedraSt. Johns, FLSt. Johns County Emergency Management reports that at least two homes are flooded on Palmetto Drive just east of US-1 north of the Northeast Florida Regional Airport. Doppler Radar estimates that in excess of 7 inches of
22:00 UTCFLOOD1 Se San MarcoDuval, FLStreet flooding was reported in San Marco. Vehicles were shown driving through about 6-10 inches of water.
22:00 UTCFLOOD1 Se San MarcoDuval, FLThe public shared pictures of significant streeting flooding at the intersection of Hendricks Avenue and Atlantic Blvd in San Marco. Water depth was about 6-10 inches.
22:15 UTCFLOOD2 Wsw ArlingtonDuval, FLDuval County 911/Dispatch reports that the eastbound lanes of the Arlington Expressway near the Matthews Bridge were flooded.
22:30 UTCLIGHTNING3 N Orange MillsPutnam, FL*** 1 FATAL, 1 INJ *** Broadcast media reports that a teenager and father sheltering beneath a tree in a wooded area were struck by lightning on Tuesday evening, September 26. The teenager was hospitalized and has died d
22:30 UTCLIGHTNING3 N Orange MillsPutnam, FL*** 1 INJ *** Lightning struck teen while outside in a wooded area. Currently hospitalized. Time is estimated based on radar imagery.
22:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 433 Ssw Fort CarolineDuval, FLThe Automated Surface Observing Station at Craig Airport in eastern Duval County reported a peak wind gust of 43 mph.
22:53 UTCTSTM WND GST 451 Ene Fort CarolineDuval, FLA WeatherFlow mesonet station near Fort Caroline measured a wind gust of 45 mph.
23:38 UTCRAIN 5.32 Sse Fort CarolineDuval, FLA public weather station measured 5.3 inches of storm total rainfall just west of Mt. Pleasant Road. Numerous public weather stations in the area between McCormick Road to Atlantic Blvd, and between Girvin Road and Kerna
23:59 UTCRAIN 4.651 Nnw Neptune BeachDuval, FLA public weather station just west of Atlantic Beach Elementary School measured storm total rainfall of 4.65 inches by 8 pm. Other public weather stations nearby measured 3-4.5 inches of daily rainfall totals.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of September 26, 2023

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 263:15 PM CDTUnratedBenton, IA0.120
September 264:40 PM EDTEF0Clay, FL0.410

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.