EF1 tornado, Mt Carrie to Olustee, Florida, March 16, 2025

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 16, 2025

Touchdown

11:38 AM EDT (15:38 UTC)

Lifted

11:44 AM EDT (15:44 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

120 yards (110 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Columbia and Baker counties

Touchdown point

30.266, -82.488

Lift-off point

30.281, -82.452

Record number

2503160938-01

4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Damage path approximately 300-400ft wide. Majority pine tree damage.
• Damage path approximately 250ft-300ft wide. Pine trees.
• Damage path width of about 250ft-300ft. Pine Tree damage, mainly snapped trunks.
• Several pine tree trunks snapped. Damage path narrowed to about 100ft.

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

A strong pre-frontal squall line moved across the region during the day. A slight risk of severe storms was in place for the local area with bulk shear of 45-60 kts phased with diurnal instability and 0-3 km SRH near 300 s2/m2 posing a tornado threat, especially for locations north of the Interstate 10 corridor. A couple of tornadoes impacted the local area with other reports of wind damage.

At approximately 11:38 AM EDT, a tornado with estimated peak winds|of 90 mph touched down over the Osceola National Forest near NE|Olino Rd, just north of Interstate 10 in Olustee, FL. The tornado|broke off many small branches, snapped tree trunks of many small |pines trees, and ripped the bark off of a medium sized pine tree |at NE Olino Rd near NE Gum Swamp Rd before quickly progressing |northeastward into a heavily forested area. The tornado then |proceeded to snap the trunks of many small pine trees on County |Road 250A as well as a service road just off of CR 250A before |continuing into more dense forest to its northeast. The width of |the tornado's track became much more narrow as it crossed into |far western Baker County and ended near Forest Road 211, where |several more small tree trunks were snapped.

At approximately 11:38 AM EDT, a tornado with estimated peak winds|of 90 mph touched down over the Osceola National Forest near NE|Olino Rd, just north of Interstate 10 in Olustee, FL. The tornado|broke off many small branches, snapped tree trunks of many small |pines trees, and ripped the bark off of a medium sized pine tree |at NE Olino Rd near NE Gum Swamp Rd before quickly progressing |northeastward into a heavily forested area. The tornado then |proceeded to snap the trunks of many small pine trees on County |Road 250A as well as a service road just off of CR 250A before |continuing into more dense forest to its northeast. The width of |the tornado's track became much more narrow as it crossed into |far western Baker County and ended near Forest Road 211, where |several more small tree trunks were snapped.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS JAX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:37 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:05 UTC and running to 18:50 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:40 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.

Lake City (LCQ), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:39 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 2025 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.