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EF0 tornado in Polk County, Florida

Tornado December 20, 2018 · Polk County, Florida

EF0

Rating

0.8 mi

Path length

75 yd

Path width

$5K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The sheriff's office reported trees uprooted near US 98 and Pool Branch Road but no structures were affected. The only damage indicator is hardwood trees uprooted.

The wider storm

A strong cold front moved southeast through the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Florida Peninsula on the 20th, preceded by a squall line. The storms produced 4 tornadoes, and damaging wind gusts, in addition to strong gradient winds behind the front on the 21st. The strong onshore winds also produced coastal flooding along the coast and moderate to major beach erosion from Pinellas County to Lee County. .

Began near Fort Meade (27.7532, -81.7702).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Manatee County EF0 Polk County EF0 Charlotte County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 790674. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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