EF0 tornado, Golden Gate, Florida, September 25, 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

September 25, 2024

Touchdown

12:54 AM EDT (04:54 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Collier County

Touchdown point

26.202, -81.515

Lift-off point

26.202, -81.515

Record number

2409252254-01

The center of Hurricane Helene passed about 200 miles west of Naples as a Category 3 hurricane moving N-NE over the eastern Gulf of Mexico around midday on Thursday, September 26th, then made landfall later that evening in the Florida Big Bend as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and lowest central pressure of 938 mb. The large wind field around Helene brought tropical storm force winds to a good portion of southern Florida, with the most consistent area of sustained tropical storm force winds over western Collier County on September 26th. Brief but strong tropical storm force wind gusts affected the remainder of southern Florida. Some of the strong wind gusts associated with Helene were not directly associated with rainbands, but due to the very strong pressure gradient and daytime heating which acted to mix down strong winds just above the surface. Most locations experienced some wind damage, primarily to trees. Sections of Collier County observed minor roof and structural damage from wind. ||Significant coastal flooding occurred along the Collier County coast from storm surge.|The first flooding episode, of up to moderate levels, occurred with the high tide on the morning and midday of September 26th when the initial storm surge from Helene reached the area. The subsequent low tide was muted by increasing surge from the major hurricane, with the highest and most impactful flooding occurring during the evening/night high tide cycle of September 26th and early morning of September 27th.|Tide levels reached 4.02 ft above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) at Naples Bay near the city dock, and NWS storm surveys indicated an 3-4 feet above ground in beachfront locations in Naples, and 1-3 feet above ground in Marco Island, Goodland, Everglades City, and Chokoloskee. Storm surge flooding mainly affected streets and parking lots, but several structures near and along the coast had minor to moderate water intrusion. ||Two EF-0 tornadoes impacted Collier County with very minor damage.||The total effects of Helene in South Florida resulted in about $1.3 million in damage, almost entirely from storm surge flooding in coastal Collier County.

The public reported outdoor items laying across DeSoto Blvd and 16th Avenue SE in Golden Gate Estates. Lawn furniture, boat cushions, tree damage was found. A tornadic cell likely moved over this area based on radar data, with time estimated.

The public reported trees down on Randall Boulevard two blocks east of 16th Street NE. A tornadic cell likely moved over this area based on radar data, with time estimated.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:48 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:30 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 00:59 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 Miami radar (KAMX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:54 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.