Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2024

Unrated tornado, New Port Rw Pasco Ar, Florida, August 28, 2024

This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Pasco County on August 28, 2024, touching down at 4:40 PM EDT and reaching 10 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 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. Unratedthis tornado

    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
Unrated
Date
August 28, 2024
Touchdown
4:40 PM EDT (20:40 UTC)
Lifted
4:41 PM EDT (20:41 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.1 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pasco County
Touchdown point
28.200, -82.620
Lift-off point
28.199, -82.621
Record number
2408281440-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Afternoon thunderstorms associated with the sea breeze produce a brief land spout tornado near Odessa in Pasco County and residential fire due to lightning in Pinellas County.

Public pictures relayed via social media showed a brief tornado between Odessa and Trinity. No damage was reported.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:49 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.

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

8.7 hours before the tornado, 59 km from the path. August 28, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1760 joules per kilogram, CIN -56, lifted condensation level 886 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, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-08-28The 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 -19 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 6 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1760 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-56 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3234 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
886 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

3.3 hours after it, 59 km from the path. August 29, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 437 joules per kilogram, CIN -150, lifted condensation level 955 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, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-08-29The 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 -51 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
437 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-150 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1383 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
955 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tampa International Airport (TPA), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:40 UTC0° 0 kt1017.6
18:45 UTC160° 4 kt1017.3
18:50 UTC150° 5 kt1017.3
18:53 UTC9376 3 kt1017.3
18:55 UTC40° 2 kt1017.3
19:00 UTC360° 5 kt1016.9
19:05 UTC0° 0 kt1016.9
19:10 UTC300° 4 kt1016.9
19:15 UTC270° 5 kt1016.9
19:20 UTC0° 0 kt1016.6
19:25 UTC250° 5 kt1016.6
19:30 UTC240° 7 kt1016.6
19:35 UTC250° 7 kt1016.6
19:40 UTC260° 8 kt1016.9
19:45 UTC270° 7 kt1016.6
19:50 UTC260° 7 kt1016.6
19:53 UTC9077250° 8 kt1016.6
19:55 UTC250° 7 kt1016.6
20:00 UTC240° 10 kt1016.6
20:05 UTC230° 5 kt1016.3
20:10 UTC230° 5 kt1016.3
20:11 UTC8977240° 5 kt1016.3TS
20:15 UTC270° 4 kt1016.3
20:20 UTC260° 5 kt1016.3
20:25 UTC140° 2 kt1016.6-RA
20:30 UTC 1016.6-RA
20:35 UTC140° 5 kt1016.9-RA
20:37 UTC8276150° 6 kt1016.9+TSRA
20:40 UTC170° 9 kt1016.9+RA BR
20:45 UTC150° 7 kt1016.9+RA BR
20:50 UTC190° 11 kt1016.9+RA BR
20:53 UTC7775170° 11 kt181017.3+TSRA BR
20:55 UTC170° 14 kt1017.6+RA BR
21:00 UTC160° 13 kt181017.9+RA BR
21:01 UTC7674160° 12 kt211017.9+TSRA BR
21:05 UTC160° 9 kt171017.6+RA BR
21:10 UTC170° 11 kt211017.6RA BR
21:15 UTC160° 11 kt181017.9+RA BR
21:20 UTC170° 19 kt271017.9-RA
21:25 UTC170° 14 kt1017.9-RA
21:30 UTC170° 11 kt191018.6-RA
21:35 UTC150° 11 kt1019-RA
21:39 UTC7674160° 10 kt211018.6-TSRA BR
21:40 UTC170° 11 kt191018.6RA BR
21:41 UTC7674180° 12 kt201018.6TSRA BR
21:45 UTC 211018.6RA BR
21:50 UTC 1018.6+RA BR
21:53 UTC7674190° 15 kt261018.3+TSRA BR
21:55 UTC 211018.3+RA BR
22:00 UTC200° 15 kt1018.3+RA BR
22:01 UTC7675200° 16 kt231018.3TSRA BR
22:05 UTC 1018.3RA BR
22:10 UTC200° 8 kt1018.3RA BR
22:15 UTC170° 9 kt1018.3RA BR
22:20 UTC 161018.3RA BR
22:25 UTC180° 7 kt1018.3RA BR
22:30 UTC180° 5 kt1018.6-RA
22:35 UTC0° 0 kt1018.6-RA

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

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:40 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 UTCTORNADO2 W OdessaPasco, FLPublic picture relayed via skywarn spotter and video posted to social media showed funnel cloud near FL Hwy 54 between Odessa and Trinity, and additional picture shared via social media showed apparent associated ground
21:03 UTCTSTM WND GST 461 Ese GulfportGmz830, FLMesonet station XCBN Clam Bayou Nature Park.
21:30 UTCLIGHTNING1 S SeminolePinellas, FLCounty dispatch reported a residential fire just west of US Hwy 19/Seminole Blvd due to lightning. Time estimated from radar.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 28, 2024

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 285:41 PM CDTEF1Sioux, ND2.2300$9,000
August 287:50 PM CDTEF2Campbell, SD5.4200
August 287:52 PM CDTEF1Kidder, ND0.9300$600,000
August 288:50 PM CDTUnratedCampbell, SD0.920

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.