EF1 tornado, (Nzc)Nas Cecil Fld, Florida, February 4, 2024

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

February 4, 2024

Touchdown

4:11 PM EST (21:11 UTC)

Lifted

4:15 PM EST (21:15 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.7 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Duval County

Touchdown point

30.199, -81.912

Lift-off point

30.214, -81.915

Record number

2402041511-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• The public shared snapped pine tree limbss (about 3-5 inches in diameter based on pictures) that fell into the back of their residence at 2517 Reagan Lakes Lane. The small trees and limbs fell through windows into the family home and caused roof damage.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A storm system traversing the southeastern states lifted a warm front northward across northeast Florida during the late afternoon hours. Supercell thunderstorms developed in the vicinity of this lifting warm front, and two distinct tornadoes occurred over southwestern and western portions of Duval County. Supercell thunderstorms during the late afternoon hours also produced several reports of hail, varying in size from pea to half-dollar in diameter, across north central and northeast Florida, with funnel clouds also noted via photos and videos posted on social media.

A tornado touched down along Sal Taylor Creek to the southwest of|Cecil Field and moved northward across Peacock Ridge Drive,|snapping and uprooting trees that fell and damaged approximately|12 homes, with farm houses and fences also damaged along the path|of about one mile in length, with a maximum path width estimated|around 200 yards. The maximum estimated intensity was 100 miles|per hour, based on the partial loss of a roof on a manufactured|home, in addition to several large trees and large branches being|snapped. The tornado continued northward across Cochise Drive and|then lifted at approximately 4:15 PM just east of Nathan Hale|Road in the Sal Taylor Creek Preserve. Several videos and photos|of this tornado were posted on social media.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.

Jacksonville - Cecil Field (VQQ), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:09 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

5 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.