EF0 tornado, (Nzc)Nas Cecil Fld to Otis, Florida, February 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

February 4, 2024

Touchdown

5:05 PM EST (22:05 UTC)

Lifted

5:07 PM EST (22:07 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Duval County

Touchdown point

30.257, -81.865

Lift-off point

30.276, -81.858

Record number

2402041605-01

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 adjacent to the Immanuel Baptist Church off|Sarroca Lane, or just southwest of the intersection of Normandy|Boulevard and Cecil Commerce Center Parkway, around 5:05 PM. This|small tornado, with an estimated maximum width of 25 yards, was|captured on video as it flipped a garbage dumpster on the church|property. This tornado likely lifted before crossing Normandy|Boulevard, with the parent supercell thunderstorm moving|northeastward, producing another likely touchdown near the|intersection of Brian Lakes Drive and Justin Oaks Drive North,|where the tornado was again captured on video as it damaged fences|and trees adjacent to homes in the area. This damage represents|am estimated peak wind of around 85 mph, and the non-continuous|damage path of this tornado was around 1.38 miles. The tornado|lifted before reaching Chaffee Trail Elementary School around 5:07|PM.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:52 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 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 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 - Herlong (HEG), 5 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:05 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.