EF3 Tornado — Escambia, Florida

2016-02-15 · near Mc David, Escambia, Florida

Event narrative

This tornado developed from an isolated supercell thunderstorm. The tornado first touched down southwest of Lambert-Ridge Road southeast of McDavid. The tornado gradually increased in strength and width as it continued northeast toward Century. The first EF-2 intensity damage noted was on Holland Drive where a workshop was completely destroyed. The tornado reached its peak intensity (widespread EF-2 damage with isolated EF-3 damage) as it moved into Century. Numerous homes were damaged or destroyed. A couple of homes experienced complete loss of the roof with only the walls of small interior rooms remaining. Extensive tree damage was noted with numerous softwood and hardwood trees either uprooted or snapped. Numerous power poles were also snapped. The tornado continued to track northeast out of Century and moved across the Florida Alabama state line into Escambia County Alabama.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms developed across the Florida Panhandle during the afternoon and evening of February 15th as a strong upper level disturbance moved from the southern Plains to the Tennessee Valley. The severe storms developed along and ahead of the trailing cold front, producing both tornadoes and straight line wind damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.8707, -87.3810)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 620077. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.