EF2 Tornado — Leon, Florida

2024-05-10 · near Fort Braden, Leon, Florida

Event narrative

The tornado touched down in Lake Talquin State Park at Williams Landing, promptly producing EF-1 damage snapping numerous softwood and hardwood trees. The tornado would then continue trekking east-southeast before making a hard right and traveling due east as it passed the intersection of Blountstown Highway and Ft. Braden Trail Road, producing damage consistent with an EF-1 rating by snapping numerous hardwood and softwood trees along the way. The tornado would then continue east, paralleling Blountstown Highway as it then impacted Lake Talquin State Recreational Area where it would continue producing EF-1 damage by snapping trees. The tornado would then shift its trajectory to east-southeast once again, impacting many subdivisions in the Norfleet neighborhood south of Blountstown Highway snapping numerous trees across the area. It would then continue on its east- southeast path before traveling east once again as it reached just north of the intersection of Capital Circle SW and Orange Ave W in Tallahassee. It would then go on to impact the neighborhoods of Seminole Manor and Mabry Manor snapping many trees along the way and causing damage to Sabal Palm Elementary School. The tornado would then continue its eastern track impacting Florida A&M University (FAMU) producing EF-1 damage by snapping numerous trees along the way. This included roof damage to at least two university buildings. EF-0 damage was observed a handful of times to eve's on homes and businesses as well as occasional shingle damage. The tornado would continue moving east toward Capital City Country Club Golf Course producing EF-1 damage by snapping numerous trees along the way and across the golf course. The tracks of both tornadoes moving through Tallahassee at this time converged at Capital City Country Club, with this tornado seemingly becoming the dominant circulation moving forward. As the tornado exited the golf course, very intense tree damage consistent with an EF-2 rating was observed as numerous trees were snapped at a height of around 75 feet. This most intense tree damage occurred from Country Club Dr. through the Indian Head Acres subdivisions. This is where the maximum estimated winds of 115mph most likely occurred. EF-1 damage would be observed through the remainder of its eastern trajectory as the tornado impacted Old St. Augustine Rd. It would go on producing EF-1 tree damage within the subdivision of Paradise Village East, Old Friends Rd, and areas along Southwood Plantation Rd before moving on to mostly forested areas north of Old St. Augustine Rd. The last concentrated area of EF-1 damage would be observed in neighborhoods along Louvinia Drive and WW Lee Road. The tornado would then continue east before uprooting a few trees along U.S. 27 as it moved to the Leon-Jefferson county line before dissipating. The tornado reached its maximum width of 1400yds as it crossed Monroe St. in downtown Tallahassee and entered into the Capital City Country Club Golf Course. Unfortunately, two fatalities occurred in association with this tornado, both due to trees falling. In one case, trees fell through a mobile home, and in the other case, a tree fell on a person who was outdoors.

Wider weather episode

May was an incredibly busy month defined by heat, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms. The main weather event occurred on the 10th when tornadoes and swaths of intense straight-line winds ravaged the Tallahassee area. A severe squall line plowed through parts of SE AL, the FL Panhandle and Big Bend early that morning and produced a total of 7 confirmed tornadoes. Three tornadoes went through Leon County, of which two, each rated EF-2 (max winds of 115 mph), simultaneously converged on Tallahassee. That same storm also was responsible for destructive wind damage in excess of 100 mph with the FAMU Weatherstem site reporting a peak gust of 84 mph, while the Tallahassee Airport gusted to 66 mph. The former surpassed the 83-mph record gust at KTLH from 9/11/1990! The resultant impacts were widespread power outages, downed/snapped/uprooted trees, and 400+ broken utility poles (exceeding Hurricane Hermine/Irma/Michael combined, per the City of TLH). Unfortunately, there were two storm-related fatalities in Tallahassee. Damage costs to the city of Tallahassee were extensive. The city accrued at least $50 million in damages, not even including residential damages. Residential damage was significant. There were a total of 174 structures deemed destroyed, 742 with major damage, 780 with minor damage, and 417 that were deemed affected. The median home price in Tallahassee as of July 2024 is roughly $286,000. Thus, a rough estimate for residential damage is an additional $50 million for the destroyed structures (assuming $286K damage per structure), $74.2 million for the structures with major damage (assuming $100K damage per structure), $7.8 million for the structures with minor damage (assuming $10K damage per structure), and $2.1 million for the structures that were deemed affected (assuming $5,000 damage per structure). This brings the estimated grand total to $184.1 million, which will be divided equally between the two tornadoes since they merged together over the city.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.4400, -84.4900)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1186559. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.