EF0 tornado in Holmes County, Florida

A tornado touched down along R.M. Ward Road in western Holmes County. The tornado knocked down numerous trees, which caused damage to several structures, including one home and at least one vehicle. The tornado continued northeast before dissipating in a heavily wooded area northeast of Jessie Hall Lane. Damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado with max winds estimated around 80 mph. Thanks to Holmes County Emergency Management for assistance with this 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.