EF1 tornado in Walton County, Florida

The tornado initially moved onshore with damage to trees and buildings at the intersection of W County Highway 30A and Laura Hamilton Blvd consistent with an EF-1 rating. It would then proceed to continue moving off to the northeast sporadically damaging trees and roofs of houses across the area. The tornado would then cross through a majority wooded area before crossing US Highway 98 before entering the woods once again. A high concentration of damage to homes and trees consistent with an EF-1 rating was found off of Chat Holly Rd. before the tornado crossed Choctawhatchee Bay. Max winds were estimated near 110 mph. The tornado would then parallel US Highway 331 as it crossed the bay before making landfall once again at Bay Grove Rd. where numerous manufactured homes were damaged along with tree damage consistent with an EF-1 rating. EF-1 damage had been observed leading up to US 331 where the tornado appears to have dissipated. Thanks to Walton County Emergency Management for assistance with this damage survey.

A high impact severe weather event impacted the tri-state region on January 9th with supercells producing tornadoes, large hail, and damaging wind gusts, followed by a major squall line with widespread wind damage and additional tornadoes. Preceding this activity, very strong non-thunderstorm wind gusts of 40-60 mph occurred, with even a gust to 70 mph at the Albany airport. There were 14 tornadoes confirmed across the tri-state region, including 3 EF0s, 5 EF1s, 5 EF2s, and 1 EF3. This activity was driven by a deepening area of low pressure west of the region with a record strong low level jet crossing the region. The winds at 850 mb were in in the 65-80 knot range, and sufficient instability existed to support mixing some of these very strong environmental winds to the surface.

Two significant tornadoes touched down in Bay county, including 1 EF3 and 1 EF2. These two tornadoes in Bay county resulted in damage to 326 buildings for a total market value loss of $20,350,311. There were 234 single family homes damaged, 46 mobile homes damaged, 22 condos damaged, 2 multi-family homes damaged, and 22 commercial buildings damaged. Of these 326 buildings, 113 sustained 5% damage, 86 sustained 15% damage, 2 sustained 20% damage, 29 sustained 30% damage, 17 sustained 35% damage, 28 sustained 45% damage, and 51 sustained 100% damage.