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EF1 tornado in Walton County, Florida

Tornado April 23, 2020 · Walton County, Florida

EF1
Rating
9.1 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Walton County → Holmes County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

Tree damage was first noted along Bob Sikes Rd. just west of Hwy 331. The tornado then crossed Hwy 331 knocking down a few business signs and trees as well as blowing in four windows of a series of businesses at a strip mall. A large retail business

also had part of it's roof peeled back and a couple HVAC units blown off. The tornado continued east northeast with points surveyed along Bay Ave southeast of DeFuniak Springs as well as County Rd 183 south of Argyle. Trees and large limbs were downed

at both locations. The location south of Argyle was the last portion of the track able to be surveyed as the track then went into inaccessible portions of Holmes County south of HWY 90. Radar was used to extend the track a few more miles into Holmes

county. The tornado lifted before reaching Ponce De Leon or Highway 81.

The wider storm

Another in a series of strong upper level troughs pushed through the southeast states, resulting in another enhanced risk of severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center. The tri-state area was hit fairly hard again, with numerous reports of wind damage documented along with several tornadoes.

Began near De Funiak Springs (30.7100, -86.1200).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Washington CountyEF1 Leon CountyEF1 Wakulla CountyEF1 Taylor CountyEF0 Bay CountyEF0 Bay County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 890618. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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