EF0 Tornado — Jefferson, Florida

2024-05-10 · near Lamont, Jefferson, Florida

Event narrative

The tornado initially touched down in Jefferson county just north of the intersection of Hall Road and S Salt Road where it twisted, uprooted, and snapped many young pine trees on the side of the road as it moved southeast. The Jefferson county portion of this tornado was rated EF0. The tornado would first reach EF1 intensity as it crossed SW Mount Olive Church Road in Madison County where numerous trees were uprooted and a trailer was damaged. The tornado would then begin a more easterly trajectory where trees were snapped along the Madison-Taylor county line. It would continue east-northeast through Madison county mostly through rural areas producing concentrated areas of EF1 damage to pine and oak trees throughout the duration. The tornado would continue its path over farmland just south of state route 8, tipping and twisting many irrigation spickets as well as snapping and uprooting adjacent trees. The tornado would dissipate over a field just west of the Madison-Suwannee county border. This tornado was rated as an EF1 with maximum winds of 100 mph and a maximum

width of 1300 yards.

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 → (30.3468, -83.8326)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1187078. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.