Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2024

EF0 tornado, Aripeka, Florida, July 20, 2024

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Pasco County on July 20, 2024, touching down at 4:15 PM EDT and reaching 15 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
July 20, 2024
Touchdown
4:15 PM EDT (20:15 UTC)
Lifted
4:16 PM EDT (20:16 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pasco County
Touchdown point
28.430, -82.600
Lift-off point
28.430, -82.600
Record number
2407201415-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Afternoon thunderstorms associated with the sea breeze produce a brief land spout tornado in southern Hernando County and a funnel cloud in northern Pasco County, both near Spring Hill.

Public videos depicted a very brief tornado touch down west-southwest of Spring Hill that snapped a few tree limbs, but otherwise caused no damage or injuries.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z

8.3 hours before the tornado, 83 km from the path. July 20, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1701 joules per kilogram, CIN -24, lifted condensation level 906 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 2024-07-20The 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 -8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 8 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1701 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-24 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
906 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z

3.7 hours after it, 83 km from the path. July 21, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-07-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 980 joules per kilogram, CIN -59, lifted condensation level 920 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 2024-07-21The 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 89 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 4 knots.1939Sfc1 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
980 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1193 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
920 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Brooksville (Asos) (BKV), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:15 UTC300° 5 kt1019.3
18:20 UTC280° 5 kt1019.3
18:25 UTC0° 0 kt1019.3
18:30 UTC0° 0 kt1019.3
18:35 UTC0° 0 kt1019
18:40 UTC0° 0 kt1019.3
18:43 UTC93 3 kt1019.3TS
18:45 UTC240° 2 kt1019
18:50 UTC180° 5 kt1019
18:53 UTC92230° 7 kt1019TS
18:55 UTC280° 9 kt1019
19:00 UTC280° 10 kt1019
19:05 UTC280° 11 kt1019
19:10 UTC 1019
19:12 UTC90300° 10 kt1019
19:15 UTC270° 7 kt1019
19:20 UTC300° 9 kt1019
19:25 UTC280° 9 kt1019
19:27 UTC91270° 8 kt1019VCTS
19:30 UTC260° 10 kt1019
19:35 UTC280° 9 kt1019
19:40 UTC270° 9 kt1019
19:45 UTC290° 5 kt1019
19:48 UTC87.8310° 6 kt1018.6
19:50 UTC300° 8 kt1019
19:53 UTC88310° 9 kt1019VCTS
19:55 UTC300° 8 kt1019
20:00 UTC310° 5 kt1019
20:03 UTC87290° 6 kt1019TS
20:05 UTC290° 5 kt1019
20:10 UTC270° 9 kt1019
20:15 UTC270° 5 kt1019
20:20 UTC280° 5 kt1019
20:25 UTC290° 7 kt1019
20:30 UTC85310° 7 kt1018.6VCTS
20:30 UTC310° 7 kt1018.6
20:35 UTC310° 7 kt1018.6
20:40 UTC290° 8 kt1018.6
20:45 UTC280° 10 kt1018.6
20:50 UTC280° 8 kt1018.6
20:53 UTC85280° 8 kt1018.3TS
20:55 UTC280° 8 kt1018.3
21:00 UTC270° 8 kt1018.6
21:05 UTC280° 5 kt1018.6
21:10 UTC240° 5 kt1018.6
21:13 UTC86 3 kt1018.6VCTS
21:15 UTC210° 2 kt1018.6
21:20 UTC210° 4 kt1018.6
21:25 UTC0° 0 kt1018.6
21:30 UTC240° 2 kt1019
21:35 UTC190° 4 kt1019
21:37 UTC88170° 4 kt1019TS
21:40 UTC130° 9 kt1018.6
21:45 UTC 1019
21:50 UTC160° 5 kt1019
21:53 UTC83180° 6 kt1019.3TS
21:55 UTC170° 5 kt1019
22:00 UTC130° 5 kt1019
22:05 UTC0° 0 kt1019
22:10 UTC60° 4 kt1018.6

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

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:16 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:00 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD3 W Spring HillHernando, FLBroadcast media shared multiple videos of funnel cloud not touching the ground.
20:15 UTCLANDSPOUT2 Wsw Spring HillPasco, FLVideo from the public of a brief (less than one minute) surface rotation concurrent with the funnel cloud reports. One pine tree limb snapped but no other damage observed. Rating of EF-0, 60 mph, based on this. Path leng

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 July 20, 2024

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 202:00 PM MDTUnratedSan Juan, UT0.110
July 205:10 PM CDTUnratedO'Brien, IA0.625
July 207:00 PM EDTEF0Putnam, FL1.55
July 209:33 PM EDTEF0Putnam, FL0.45

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.