Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2024

Unrated tornado, Pennsuco, Florida, February 18, 2024

This Unrated tornado ran 0.6 miles across Miami-Dade County on February 18, 2024, touching down at 2:57 PM EST and reaching 30 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
February 18, 2024
Touchdown
2:57 PM EST (19:57 UTC)
Lifted
2:59 PM EST (19:59 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (1.0 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Miami-Dade County
Touchdown point
25.840, -80.490
Lift-off point
25.844, -80.481
Record number
2402181357-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MFL, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

  • Downed large tree limbs and an uprooted tree in the parking lot near

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

A low-topped supercell embedded within a line of showers moved across a portion of Broward and Miami-Dade Counties on the afternoon of February 18th, 2024 in association with a cold front moving through the area. During several different cycles in the lifetime of this low-topped supercell, tornadic activity was reported. Due to the cyclic nature of this low-topped supercell, these tornadoes' paths were discontinuous.

A brief tornado touched down in Miami-Dade County approximately 4 miles north of the intersection of SW 8th street and Highway 997 (Krome Avenue). A driver reported a tornado crossing Krome Ave via social media. Minor vegetation damage was noted. Time, path length, and path width are estimated by radar and video reports from the public. Maximum wind speed and EF rating are unknown.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:08 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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

8.0 hours before the tornado, 20 km from the path. February 18, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-02-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 159 joules per kilogram, CIN -60, lifted condensation level 548 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, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-02-18The 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 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 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
159 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

4.0 hours after it, 20 km from the path. February 19, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-02-19Temperature 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 -54163, lifted condensation level 940 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, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-02-19The 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 -177 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 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
-54163 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
940 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 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
19:55 UTCTORNADO8.2 W DoralMiami-Dade, FLA brief tornado of unknown intensity touched down approximately 4 miles north of the intersection of SW 8th street and Highway 997 (Krome Avenue). Time estimated by radar and video reports from the public.
20:26 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nw Pembroke PinesBroward, FLPublic reported tree downed at the intersection of Taft street and N Flamingo Road.
21:05 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Sw Cooper CityBroward, FLWind damage, with a possible brief tornado touchdown, reported near the intersection of Stirling Road and NW 101st avenue. A few benches were damaged, metal sliding debri and broken tree branches around the Cooper City O
21:05 UTCTORNADO1 Sw Cooper CityBroward, FLCorrects previous tstm wnd dmg report from 1 SW Cooper City. An expected brief tornado touched down, reported near the intersection of Stirling Road and NW 101st avenue. A few benches were damaged, metal sliding debris a
21:23 UTCTSTM WND DMGOakland ParkBroward, FLStrong wind gusts from a thunderstorm caused a car to flip over near the intersection of NE 3rd Ave and NE 34th Ct in Oakland Park.
21:23 UTCTORNADOOakland ParkBroward, FLCorrects previous tstm wnd dmg report from Oakland Park. An expected tornado caused a car to flip over near the intersection of NE 3rd Ave and NE 34th Ct in Oakland Park.

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 February 18, 2024

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 181:02 PM ESTEF0Monroe, FL4.6120$75,000
February 183:20 PM ESTEF0Broward, FL3.4100$10,000
February 183:33 PM ESTEF0Broward, FL3.4350$15,000
February 183:55 PM ESTUnratedBroward, FL0.250$40,000

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.