EF2 tornado, Compass Lake to Bascom, Florida, January 9, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

January 9, 2024

Touchdown

6:25 AM CST (12:25 UTC)

Lifted

6:43 AM CST (12:43 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

16.3 miles (26.3 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

7

Property damage

$5.0 million

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

30.710, -85.228

Lift-off point

30.915, -85.091

Record number

2401090625-01

146 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Uproot hardwood and loss of significant roof damage
• Residence had greater than 20% loss of roof; about half. Couldn’t get a pic.
• Several softwood trunks snapped
• Siding missing, partial roof loss

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

A high impact severe weather event impacted the tri-state region on January 9th with supercells producing tornadoes, large hail, and damaging wind gusts, followed by a major squall line with widespread wind damage and additional tornadoes. Preceding this activity, very strong non-thunderstorm wind gusts of 40-60 mph occurred, with even a gust to 70 mph at the Albany airport. There were 14 tornadoes confirmed across the tri-state region, including 3 EF0s, 5 EF1s, 5 EF2s, and 1 EF3. This activity was driven by a deepening area of low pressure west of the region with a record strong low level jet crossing the region. The winds at 850 mb were in in the 65-80 knot range, and sufficient instability existed to support mixing some of these very strong environmental winds to the surface. ||Two significant tornadoes touched down in Bay county, including 1 EF3 and 1 EF2. These two tornadoes in Bay county resulted in damage to 326 buildings for a total market value loss of $20,350,311. There were 234 single family homes damaged, 46 mobile homes damaged, 22 condos damaged, 2 multi-family homes damaged, and 22 commercial buildings damaged. Of these 326 buildings, 113 sustained 5% damage, 86 sustained 15% damage, 2 sustained 20% damage, 29 sustained 30% damage, 17 sustained 35% damage, 28 sustained 45% damage, and 51 sustained 100% damage.

This tornado touched down in far northeast Bay county, travelled through far northwest Calhoun county, and ended in Jackson county. The Bay county portion of the tornado is rated EF0. The Calhoun and Jackson county portions of the tornado are rated EF1 with max winds estimated at 90 mph. The tornado began in northeastern Bay county where it touched down in a wooded area between US 231 and NW County road 274 snapping several trees. Multiple trees along NW County road 167 were snapped or uprooted. The track continued to the northeast into Jackson county where it crossed through forested land before crossing Freeman Road. The tornado continued through another wooded area before moving parallel with Grand Mesa Avenue where several trees were uprooted or snapped. The tornado then continued through another wooded area before crossing Varsey Lane where it damaged some small outbuilding sheds as well as snapped a few trees. The tornado continued to track parallel to Varsey Lane to the northeast before snapping tree tops along its path before lifting just beyond Celestial Lane in another wooded area. The tornado reached its maximum width of approximately 450 yards as well as its maximum intensity as it crossed NW county road 167 with the most widespread tree damage observed at this point.

The tornado began in an open field that paralleled highway 73 in central Jackson county. The tornado continued to the northeast before crossing Pandora road where it uprooted a couple large pine trees, one of which fell on an older single wide trailer, which was completely destroyed. Another slightly newer single wide trailer had half of its roof peeled back and blown into the woods behind it to the northeast. The tornado continued to the northeast where it crossed Magnolia road. Several trees were uprooted and snapped along the road. A brand new manufactured home had half of its roof blown off. A trailer park along Mark lane had several large trees snapped or uprooted, and a few roofs were peeled back on some of the single wide homes in the subdivision. The tornado then went on to cross I-10 where an 18 wheeler was knocked over. After crossing I-10, the tornado paralleled Spring Creek road where it snapped and uprooted several large hardwood trees as well as peeled back part of the roof of a shed. The tornado continued to the northeast where it crossed U.S. Highway 90 where a majority of the damage and seven injuries occurred in an RV Park and neighborhood. Several mobile homes where significantly damaged or flipped upside down while being displaced several hundred feet. Several large pine trees where snapped at the base as well. In the subdivision just to the northeast of the RV Park on Rooks Drive, two residential family homes had their roofs completely blown off. A church just across the street from the homes off Merritts Mill road had a cinder block outbuilding collapse. The church building sustained some damage to the gable. The tornado continued to the northeast where several homes off of Janette Drive had partial roof damage as well as sporadic tree damage. The tornado continued to the northeast again through a wooded area before moving through Blue Spring subdivision where extensive damage was observed to the roofs and siding of a majority of the homes. Two homes off of Spring Chase Lane had their roofs blown off along with several large mature hardwoods being snapped at their base. The tornado reached its maximum intensity and width through this stretch just beyond U.S. Highway 90. The maximum width is estimated to be around 600 yards. From the Blue Springs Road subdivision, the tornado continued to the northeast parallel to Blue Springs Road where it snapped and uprooted several trees. The tornado continued along Blue Springs road where it damaged the roofs of several single wide manufactured homes. The tornado continued to the northeast where it collapsed the roof of another church outbuilding along Polar Springs road while also uprooting and snapping several trees on the church property. The tornado crossed Fort road to the northeast of the church where several trees were snapped and uprooted before continuing through a wooded area. The tornado crossed Wintergreen road where a few trees were uprooted along the road, before it dissipated over the field to the northeast of the road. The tornado was rated EF2 with max winds estimated at 125 mph.

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

33 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:52 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:08 UTC and running to 16:40 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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.

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:24 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

31 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.