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EF0 tornado in Pinellas County, Florida

Tornado February 14, 2021 · Pinellas County, Florida

EF0
Rating
1.3 mi
Path length
30 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 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

A round of strong nocturnal thunderstorms rolled in

from the Eastern Gulf of Mexico during the overnight hours of

February 14th. One of these storms took on brief supercell

characteristics with strong rotation evident on radar as it came

into Redington Beach. A NWS meteorologist was unable to find

damage on the barrier island itself, so it was determined a

waterspout formed over Boca Ciega Bay in Pinellas County, moving

generally northeast. The waterspout then came onshore and caused a

very narrow swath of EF-0 damage along Boca Ciega Point Blvd N.

The tornado then tracked north-northeast and caused roof damage to

the Ridgeview apartment complex. The peak intensity of 75 mph was

determined by the roof decking damage here... The tornado then

quickly dissipated.

The wider storm

Short waves moving along a stationary boundary just north of I-4 produced strong winds and a brief tornado.

Began near Redington Beach (27.8165, -82.8038).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 935737. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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