EF3 Tornado — Leon, Florida

2019-03-03 · near Baum, Leon, Florida

Event narrative

A EF-3 tornado, with maximum winds of 140 mph, that tracked 6.5 miles across far Eastern Leon County and into extreme Western Jefferson County. This tornado initially touched down near the intersection of US-90 and Crump Road in eastern Leon County.

Damage in this area was limited primarily to snapped trees. The tornado intensified after moving east of US-90 and destroyed an outbuilding on Wadesboro Rd just west of Baum Road. After crossing Baum Road, the tornado reached peak intensity in the vicinity of Steeds Run. In this area two homes were destroyed. Damage with both homes was consistent with a low-end EF-3 tornado. All exterior walls were collapsed and some of the debris was blown well off the foundation. Additionally, cars located near a home were lofted and moved from a parked position in front of the home. Maximum winds in this area were estimated at 140 mph. The tornado continued moving east and began to weaken. Even so, damage in far Eastern Leon County on Jefferson Rd South near Driftwood Circle was still significant with multiple power poles snapped and numerous trees snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued moving east and crossed into Jefferson County near Tradition Way. Numerous pine trees in this area were snapped between 6 and 10 feet above the ground.

From a historical perspective, this is the second tornado rated F3 or EF3 in Leon County since 1945. Accordingly, this makes the March 3rd tornado the 2nd strongest tornado to affect Leon County since 1945. Damage cost was estimated.

Wider weather episode

This event featured all modes of severe weather in our forecast area, including 13 tornadoes, numerous reports of straight-line wind damage, and even large hail. The 13 tornadoes consisted of 1 EF3, 2 EF2s, 6 EF1s, and 4 EF0s. This is a very high number of tornadoes for our forecast area for a single event. This compares with 7 tornadoes in the 1/22/17 event, 8 tornadoes in the 1/2/17 event, and 10 tornadoes in the 3/1/07 event. This may have been the most tornadoes for a single event in our area since the Hurricane Ivan tornadoes back in 2004. The synoptic pattern was characterized by a fast-moving upper trough through relatively zonal flow. The forecast area was under the favorable right entrance region of the upper jet with lots of upper level divergence. An 850 mb jet near or in excess of 50 knots was also present, which is another typical ingredient for severe weather in this part of the country in the cool season. Cool season levels of shear (0-1 km shear > 30 knots and 0-6 km shear > 50 knots) were overlaid with moderate levels of instability (SBCAPE 1500 j/kg), as opposed to more typical winter SBCAPE < 500 j/kg. Without this strong low-level jet, the low-level shear values would have been weaker and we would have probably seen less tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.4934, -84.1262)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 810841. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.