- On the 1 year anniversary of 3 tornadoes moving through Leon County, the National Weather Service tells us what it was like before, during, and after the event at the local office in Tallahassee.
- Relive the events of the morning of May 10th with highlights from ABC 27's on-air coverage as the tornadoes moves through the Tallahassee area.
- Watch the video to see how the events of May 10th impacted Tallahassee and learn of the role of meteorologists in severe weather events.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
With all the big weather events across the Big Bend and South Georgia the past few years, it may be hard to forget one year ago, we were dealing with historic tornadoes. I'm First To Know Meteorologist Riley Winch at the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, where I'm looking back at the day of May 10th, 2024.
In the days leading up, the National Weather Service was already preparing for the threat of severe weather, along with the weather team at ABC 27. Mark Wool is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Tallahassee office.
"We were looking at strong probabilities of very strong straight-line winds. And that had been our focus in messaging leading up to that warning. In fact, there was a Severe Thunderstorm Watch."
Even with damaging winds being the main threat, tornado spin-ups within the passing line of storms was also a concern, which became more apparent early on in the morning.
The first Big Bend tornado warning was issued for Gadsden County at 6:14 am EDT.
ABC 27 Meteorologist Elizabeth Copeland was tracking the storm on air, and nearly 20 minutes later, danger was increasing.
"There's a little notch there, that's a little concerning, let's go ahead and look at that. Of course that's right over I-10, this morning, and that's exactly where that area of concern is."
The National Weather Service was seeing the same concern, prompting confirmation of a tornado on the ground within minutes.
"This is that area of rotation, we are about to see a new tornado warning pop up that will include the city of Midway where our studios are. And it is a confirmed tornado, guys, right along I-10."
By 6:51 am EDT, things escalated quickly. The tornado passed less than a mile to the south of our ABC 27 studios in Midway, Florida.
"Here is Midway, our power just went out. So here is Midway, here is Blue Star Highway. That tornado is on the ground, lofting debris. And here we are in Midway, and we're gonna watch this in just a second here, I just need to make sure we don't need to take cover. FLASH FRAME Riley in background: "Tallahassee is now under a tornado warning until 7:30 am"
During shift change at 7am, the Tallahassee National Weather Service team had to pass their duties to Jacksonville's National Weather Service team as they had to take shelter due to the tornado warning.
"It's the first time our staff has had to shelter from our own warning."
7:01 am EDT "A lot of that area kind of heading to the east is going to be that Collegetown area. The Doak Campbell Stadium, there's FAMU, FSU, a lot of kids getting out of school this time of year."
Mark: "It's not terribly unusual for an isolated tornado to spin up on a squall line, but to have three of them that close together coming right at the population center, that was something I haven't seen before."
As the tornadoes moved through Tallahassee, a critical development occurred.
7:14 am EDT "I don't know if our radar has gone down or not because it has not updated in quite a while."
Without data from the Tallahassee radar and Valdosta radar, which was already down for maintenance, the National Weather Service had to improvise.
"To have them both go down right at that time, we knew these were tornadic storms. So just before going to shelter, our radar operator made the decision to warn downstream. Slightly larger warning area than we might have otherwise, to take into account the greater uncertainty."
After the severe weather threat had passed, the work at the National Weather Service was far from over. That day, Mark joined the Leon County Sheriff's Office in a law enforcement helicopter "and did an aerial survey. It's harder to see damage from a helicopter than you would think".
The following day, NWS sent out ground crews and determined the two tornadoes that tracked through Tallahassee saw EF-2 ratings. The southern Leon County tornado, impacting Woodville, was surveyed that Sunday, which received an EF-1 rating.
While May 10th was a dramatic day in Tallahassee, Mark has emphasized to those concerned, "don't think that every May now, you're gonna have to worry about tornadoes."
It's still important to just be aware of severe weather threats, and what you should do in case a tornado warning is issued for your area. From the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, I'm Meteorologist Riley Winch.
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