EF1 tornado, Liberty, Florida, January 25, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

January 25, 2026

Touchdown

1:23 PM CST (19:23 UTC)

Lifted

1:25 PM CST (19:25 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.1 miles (1.8 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Walton County

Touchdown point

30.791, -86.204

Lift-off point

30.791, -86.185

Highest wind the damage implies

95 mph

Surveyed by

NWS TAE

The office's name for it

Walton County Tornado

Survey last edited

January 27, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A tornado touched down in Walton County just west of Kings Lake Road and traveled east through a neighborhood along and just north of Paradise Island Drive. The tornado then presumably crossed the northern portion of Kings Lake causing more tree damage to the east of the lake. Along most of the path, EF-0 damage was observed. However, near the beginning of the patch two large trees were uprooted and rated EF-1. Near the end of the path, the tornado caused significant removal of the roofing material of a single family home. The porch was also badly damaged. Winds here were estimated at 95 mph, the highest found in this survey. The tornado then lifted quickly as there was no damage east of U.S 331 which is a swampy inaccessible area.

Written by NWS TAE in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

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

A line of strong to severe storms ahead of a cold front brought damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes to the tri-state area.

A tornado touched down in Walton County just west of Kings Lake Road and traveled east through a neighborhood along and just north of Paradise Island Drive. The tornado then presumably crossed the northern portion of Kings Lake causing more tree damage to the east of the lake. Along most of the path, EF-0 damage was observed. However, near the beginning of the patch two large trees were uprooted and rated EF-1. Near the end of the path, the tornado caused significant removal of the roofing material of a single family home. The porch was also badly damaged. Winds here were estimated at 95 mph, the highest found in this survey. The tornado then lifted quickly as there was no damage east of U.S 331 which is a swampy inaccessible area.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:50 UTC and running to 20:52 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 16:03 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 Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:25 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 2026 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

4 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.