EF0 tornado in Flagler County, Florida

The EMA Storm Survey team concluded a brief EF0 tornado touchdown. There was social media video of a funnel cloud with this cell. Around 8:10 am local time, the 5100-5400 block of South John Anderson Highway was impacted by a brief tornado that downed a few small trees, broke a driveway lamp post, shunt metal dock furniture into a canal and blew open mailboxes. Major structural damage was not observed.

A potent storm system developing over the lower MS River Valley tracked eastward across the Gulf Coast States and brought a couple rounds of severe storms to the local area. The first wave of strong to severe storms approached SE GA midday with strong shear and high low level helicity favoring all severe weather hazards including damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes. This initial band of convection stalled just north of the I-10 corridor and lingered into the afternoon as the first mid level trough lifted NE of the region. This lingering convergent line (outflow boundary) was a focus for continued rounds of severe storms and locally heavy rainfall under strengthening upper level divergence and robust 850 mb winds of 40-50 kts as the parent mid/upper level troughs approached from the west into the evening. The next wave of severe storms developed in the late afternoon and early evening along both the lingering trough/outflow axis across NE FL was well as upstream across south GA as the next strong upper level trough approached, which another round of severe hazards including tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail across SE GA and northeast Florida into the evening. Storms generally weakened a few hours after midnight as stronger dynamics lifted NE of the region, but a few stronger storms during the early morning hours of the 25th produced a brief tornado in Flagler county and hail across our southern tier counties.