Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2024
Unrated tornado, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, May 13, 2024
This Unrated tornado ran 0.0 miles across Walton County on May 13, 2024, touching down at 11:44 AM CDT and reaching 10 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- May 13, 2024
- Touchdown
- 11:44 AM CDT (16:44 UTC)
- Lifted
- 11:45 AM CDT (16:45 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.0 miles (0.0 km)
- Path width
- 10 yards (9 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Walton County
- Touchdown point
- 30.390, -86.180
- Lift-off point
- 30.390, -86.180
- Record number
- 2405131044-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A couple of rounds of showers and thunderstorms impacted portions of northwest Florida on May 13 and 14th ahead of a cold front. A few reports of severe weather occurred, mainly in the form of trees and power lines blown down. One waterspout also moved ashore as a tornado in south Walton county, but no damage occurred.
The media forwarded a video of a waterspout moving onshore as a tornado just off the US-331 bridge at North Beach social. No damage was reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
10 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:34 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:53 UTC and running to 17:52 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:10 UTC | 15:53 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | TAE |
| 12:00 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Rip Currents Statement | TAE |
| 15:00 UTC | 12:33 UTC | Flood Watch | TAE |
| 15:42 UTC | 17:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 15:53 UTC | 17:52 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 16:34 UTC | 17:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 16:57 UTC | 17:40 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 18:10 UTC | 21:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | TAE |
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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:28 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 radar
The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:46 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:16 UTC | TSTM WND GST 47 | 1 E Hurlburt Field | Okaloosa, FL | Hurlburt Field ASOS site reported a wind gust of 41 kts. |
| 16:40 UTC | TSTM WND GST 46 | 1 Ene Choctaw Beach | Walton, FL | Mesonet station 1416W Fswn Choctaw Beach. |
| 16:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 E Four Mile Village | Walton, FL | Emergency Manager reported a tree down on some power lines and cables. |
| 16:43 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se Portland | Walton, FL | Report from mPING: 1-inch tree limbs broken; Shingles blown off. |
| 16:44 UTC | TORNADO | 3 E Santa Rosa Beach | Walton, FL | Media forwarded webcam video of a waterspout moving onshore just off US 331 Bridge at North Beach Social. Time estimated by radar. |
| 16:49 UTC | TSTM WND GST 48 | 2 Wnw Blue Mountain Bea | Walton, FL | Corrects previous tstm wnd gst report from 2 WNW Blue Mountain Beach. Mesonet station 1451W Ed Walline Beach Access. |
| 17:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 48 | 2 Wnw Blue Mountain Bea | Walton, FL | Mesonet station 1451W Ed Walline Beach Access. |
| 17:34 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Saint Andrews State Par | Bay, FL | Public shared a video on social media of a funnel cloud at St Andrews State Park. |
| 18:40 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 43 | Miramar Beach | Walton, FL | Mesonet station 1418W Fswn Miramar Beach. |
| 19:39 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 46 | 5 Ne West Bay | Bay, FL | ASOS station KECP Panama City. |
| 19:39 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 51 | 2 N Magnolia Beach | Bay, FL | 51 mph wind gusts FSU Panama City WeatherSTEM. |
| 19:40 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 52 | 1 Nnw Lynn Haven | Bay, FL | 52 mph gust at Ambient Weather Station in Lynn Haven. |
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 May 13, 2024
16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13 | 3:32 AM CDT | EF1 | Lawrence, MS | 0.5 | 280 | $120,000 | ||
| May 13 | 3:37 AM CDT | EF1 | Lawrence, MS | 0.8 | 230 | $100,000 | ||
| May 13 | 4:35 AM CDT | EF0 | Lincoln, OK | 0.2 | 20 | $20,000 | ||
| May 13 | 3:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Calhoun, TX | 13.6 | 150 | $8,000 | ||
| May 13 | 3:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Taney, MO | 1.2 | 50 | |||
| May 13 | 4:41 PM CDT | EF2 | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 3.4 | 200 | $250,000 | ||
| May 13 | 4:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 6.5 | 300 | $150,000 | ||
| May 13 | 3:39 PM MST | EF0 | Coconino, AZ | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| May 13 | 6:22 PM CDT | EF2 | Saint Martin Parish, LA | 8.6 | 400 | $250,000 | ||
| May 13 | 6:34 PM CDT | Unrated | Saint Martin Parish, LA | 3.6 | 1 | |||
| May 13 | 6:35 PM CDT | Unrated | Saint Martin Parish, LA | 4.2 | 1 | |||
| May 13 | 6:37 PM CDT | Unrated | Iberville Parish, LA | 0.9 | 100 | |||
| May 13 | 6:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 6.6 | 150 | |||
| May 13 | 6:43 PM CDT | EF0 | Pointe Coupee Parish, LA | 0.9 | 100 | $15,000 | ||
| May 13 | 6:54 PM CDT | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 1.8 | 120 | $15,000 | ||
| May 13 | 7:23 PM CDT | EF1 | Livingston Parish, LA | 3.3 | 150 | $12,000 |
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.