EF0 tornado, Bowling Green, Florida, August 4, 2024

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

August 4, 2024

Touchdown

1:25 PM EDT (17:25 UTC)

Lifted

1:27 PM EDT (17:27 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.2 miles (1.9 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Hardee and Polk counties

Touchdown point

27.640, -81.850

Lift-off point

27.655, -81.859

Record number

2408041125-01

Hurricane Debby made landfall north of the local area along the Big Bend region of Florida near Steinhatchee around 7 AM EST on August 5th as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and a minimum pressure of 979 mb. Despite Debby���s track west of the Florida peninsula, impacts overspread the area from coastal locations spreading inland.|Storm surge affected the immediate coast from Ft. Myers northward through Cedar Key, where water levels peaked over 4 feet above normally dry ground across the upper Nature Coast and the Cedar Key area. Wind gusts of up to 60 to 70 mph affected much of the western Florida coast, with the strongest winds occurring along immediate coastal areas from around Tampa and St. Petersburg northward across Nature Coast locations, producing generally minor damage along with power outages. Torrential rainfall accompanied Debby as the rainbands east of its center moved across the area. Totals as high as 15 to 20 inches were reported, with hardest hit west-central and southwest Florida areas requiring numerous water rescues from flooded vehicles and homes as a result of extensive flash flooding and subsequent river flooding, and at least one official river gauge site established a new record crest. Multiple supercells embedded within outer rain bands east of Debby���s center produced at least 3 tornadoes across the area, however, associated damage remained relatively minor. |Debby���s overall impacts across the western Florida peninsula resulted in 2 direct fatalities and 3 indirect fatalities, with numerous homes and additional businesses receiving damage from freshwater flash and river flooding.

A long-lived supercell embedded within an outer rainband associated with Tropical Storm Debby tracked north-northwestward across much of interior southwest Florida, including parts of Lee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties, before again exhibiting signs of increased organization as it moved west of Zolfo Springs in Hardee County around 12:08 EST. Continuing north-northwest, and despite a degrading radar presentation, the storm passed west of Bowling Green where a tornado was spotted and reported via a picture submitted by a NWS volunteer, around 12:25 EST. The tornado track continued into Polk County at 12:26 EST, where it would continue for approximately another two-thirds of a mile before dissipating north of County Line Rd. Maximum winds were estimated around 75 mph.

Continuation of the tornado track that originated in Hardee County after a long-lived supercell embedded within an outer rainband associated with Tropical Storm Debby tracked north-northwestward across much of interior southwest Florida, including parts of Lee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties, before a tornado was spotted west of Bowling Green and reported via a picture submitted by a NWS volunteer, around 12:25 EST. The tornado crossed into Polk County at 12:26 EST before it was estimated to have dissipated shortly thereafter north of County Line Rd, after traversing a mostly rural area. Maximum winds were estimated around 75 mph.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

26 minutes of warning. NWS TBW issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:59 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 14:57 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.

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 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 16:23 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 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.

Bartow (BOW), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:27 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.

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

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

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

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.