EF0 tornado, Punta Rassa to Matlacha, Florida, October 9, 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

October 9, 2024

Touchdown

11:45 AM EDT (15:45 UTC)

Lifted

11:47 AM EDT (15:47 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.4 km)

Path width

33 yards (30 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Lee County

Touchdown point

26.493, -81.996

Lift-off point

26.496, -81.997

Record number

2410090945-01

60 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TBW, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 132 mph.

• Half of roof ripped off, garage area wall collapsed.
• Front half of roof ripped off. Clean up and restorative efforts had already begun.
• Roof ripped off home. Oaks in back had large branches snapped.
• Broken roof tiles, broken front windows, tree branches snapped.

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

Hurricane Milton made landfall along the west-central Florida coast near Siesta Key at 7:30 PM EST on October 9th as a major, Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and a minimum pressure of 954 mb. 2 days prior to landfall on October 7th, Milton reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph and a minimum pressure of 897 mb, making it the 5th most intense Atlantic hurricane of record in terms of pressure, and the strongest Atlantic hurricane since the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Milton would weaken due to an eyewall replacement cycle the following day before reattaining Category 5 status, before a weakening trend ensued early on the 9th and persisted through landfall due to increasing vertical wind shear and dry air. Milton produced wide ranging impacts across the western Florida panhandle from all commonly associated tropical cyclone hazards.|Milton produced a widespread swath of wind gusts of 80 to 100 mph across Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties, affecting the heavily populated Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area along with other large population centers including Bradenton and Sarasota. Wind gusts over 60 mph extended well into southwest Florida and up into the Nature Coast as well. Widespread significant structural and tree damage resulted from the strong winds, leading to numerous power outages that saw a peak of over 3.5 million customers without power. |Official storm surge measured by tidal gauges ranged from around 5 to 7 feet above normally dry ground in Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties, south of where the center moved ashore; however, peak water levels were estimated to have reached up to 10 feet above normally dry ground per NWS storm surveys following the storm, with numerous homes and structures damaged or destroyed by the storm surge across coastal Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee counties. Offshore winds north of Milton's center produced blowout tide conditions resulting in lower than normal water levels, which occurred from around Tampa Bay extending northward across coastal Nature Coast locations.|Milton produced a widespread swath of heavy rainfall just north of its track across the peninsula, with maximum storm totals of generally 12 to 18 inches and some local totals in excess of 20 inches, spanning from the Tampa Bay area north and east into parts of Pasco, Polk and Sumter counties. These heavy rains resulted in widespread flash flooding and eventually led to moderate to major river flooding, with some river gauge sites establishing new record crests as a result.|Prior to landfall, at least a dozen tornadoes impacted west central and southwest Florida as outer rainbands moved across the area, establishing a new record number of tornadoes to affect the area in a 24-hour period. The strongest of these tornadoes were two EF-2 tornadoes, one that tracked through the Fort Myers area, and another that tracked across the Lake Placid area. While the tornadoes were responsible for structural and agricultural damage, only an injury was reported.|Milton's overall impacts across the western Florida peninsula resulted in 7 direct fatalities, 4 indirect fatalities, and over $3 billion in insured losses. Over 200 homes were destroyed, with over 2,000 suffering major damage, and 5,000 suffering minor damage. Over 400 businesses were impacted by Milton.

The first tornado of the day to impact Fort Myers, this supercell|went on to produce the Matlacha Tornado a few minutes later. As|the cell approached the coast, a brief tornado touched down in|the Jonathan Harbour community, causing damage to one home,|destroying a houseboat, and lifting a second pontoon boat onto a|dock. The tornado then continued into Punta Rassa Cove before|dissipating. Maximum estimated winds were 80 mph.

A waterspout moved over the Matlacha area, causing roof and siding damage to several homes along the track. The worst of the damage was to two homes, one where half of the roof was ripped off, and the other was a mobile home that had half the roof ripped off and walls collapse under it. The tornado moved back over the water and dissipated. Maximum estimated winds were 105 mph.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS TBW issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:33 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:23 UTC and running to 21:41 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. The outlook in force was issued at 12:45 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 Tampa radar (KTBW), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:42 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

43 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.