January 27th, 2021 Tallahassee Tornado

Overview

A cold front moved through the tri-state region on the morning of Wednesday January 27, 2021. While this severe weather event was on the lower end of the spectrum for severity, it was strong enough to produce several tornado-warned storms. In total, 5 tornado warnings and 8 severe-thunderstorm warnings were issued for this event. Thankfully, despite there being two tornadoes, there were no injuries directly related to the tornadoes. There was, however, sporadic damage at the airport and across southern portions of the county.

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Radar imagery from the storm as it developed across western portions of the county, and then moved over the Tallahassee airport and radar. This storm produced two low-end EF-1 tornadoes. One near Fort Braden and another over southern portions of Tallahassee. The radar was not damaged from the tornado.	Satellite imagery of the frontal system around the time the tornado moved over the airport.

Regional overview of the warnings our office issued during this severe weather event. Red boxes are tornado warnings, yellow are severe thunderstorm warnings, and purple are special marine warnings. Icons indicated are local storm reports.

Tornado Information
Photos

Storm Information

Tornado - Tallahassee, Leon County
Florida

Date	January 27, 2021
Time	11:37am EST
EF Rating (Max)	1
Est. Peak Winds	90 mph
Path Length	21.42 miles
Max Width	200 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: A tornado touched down just west of the Tallahassee International Airport. The preliminary touch down point is estimated by radar. Once the tornado reached the airport, it spun a CRJ plane 90 degrees and flipped a small Piper plane upside down. There was also damage to a few hangars with some small percentage of metal roofing uplifted. One hangar had large canvas doors on both sides that were shredded with the support structure for one of the canvas doors wrenched free. A bit further east on the west end of the employee lot, one hardwood tree was uprooted and fell onto two cars. A few pine trees were snapped in the immediate vicinity. This one area had damage consistent with low-end EF-1 damage. The tornado may have lifted briefly as it tracked east-southeast across sparsely populated areas. It did snap a large branch on a tree near Crawfordville Road and Rehwinkle Drive. There were several thin pines snapped along a half mile stretch of Tram Road just west of Capital Circle SE. Many of these trees were likely weakened by Hurricane Michael. Damage was done to a few small trees along the southern periphery of the Southwood Community, along Shumard Oak Blvd. and Four Oaks Blvd. There were then sporadic instances of damage along Tram Road east of Southwood. Damage was then noted along St. Joe Rd. with several trees snapped and uprooted there. Uprooted trees and minor property damage occurred on Fox Tail Road and Bobby Goodwin Lane before the tornado lifted just west the Jefferson County line.

Track Map

Track Map EF-Scale

Tornado - Fort Braden, Leon County
Florida

Date	January 27, 2021
Time	11:30am EST
EF Rating (Max)	1
Est. Peak Winds	90 mph
Path Length	0.8467 miles
Max Width	50 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: A tornado initially touched down on Oscar Harvey Rd., snapping some tree tops. The tornado then did damage consistent with an EF-1 rating at Blountstown Highway and Seabs Rd. Several large live oak trees were uprooted and several out buildings were destroyed. Winds peaked around 90 mph in this area. The tornado lifted over the Apalachicola National Forest just east of the property.

Track Map

Track Map EF-Scale

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph