TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The National Weather Service has determined that not one, but two tornadoes touched down in Leon County during Wednesday's storms.
On Friday, the NWS revised their public information statements regarding Wednesday's severe weather.
In the update, they said two tornadoes touched down in Leon County on Wednesday morning.
1/29: Good afternoon! The updated PNS for Tuesday's tornadoes can be found below. Two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Leon County: first a brief touchdown in the western part of the county and then the longer track tornado starting just west of the airport. https://t.co/ium8d5GqxA pic.twitter.com/paink1Hyhu
— NWS Tallahassee (@NWSTallahassee) January 29, 2021
The first was only on the ground briefly, but caused EF-1 damage to a property on Blountstown Highway.
The NWS said the tornado initially touched down on Oscar Harvey Road, snapping some tree tops.
The tornado then did damage consistent with an EF-1 rating at Blountstown Highway and Seabs Road, uprooting several large live oak trees. Several out buildings were also destroyed.
Eventually, the tornado lifted over the Apalachicola National Forest just east of the property after covering roughly a mile of ground.
The second tornado a longer track tornado, primarily of EF-0 strength.
It touched down just west of the Tallahassee International Airport, according to the NWS. 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.
Further east on the west end of the employee lot, the NWS said one hardwood tree was uprooted and fell onto two cars. A few pine trees were also snapped in the immediate vicinity.
The NWS believes the tornado may have lifted briefly as it tracked east-southeast across sparsely populated areas, snapping a large branch on a tree near Crawfordville Road and Rehwinkle Drive.
There were also several thin pines snapped along a half mile stretch of Tram Road just west of Capital Circle SE, many of which were likely weakened by Hurricane Michael according to meteorologists.
The NWS said damage was also 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 also noted along St. Joe Road. with several trees snapped and uprooted there.
The NWS said 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, ending it's 21 mile run.
Estimated peak winds for both twisters were 90 mph and rated as EF-1 tornadoes.
The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
EF0...Weak......65 to 85 mph EF1...Weak......86 to 110 mph EF2...Strong....111 to 135 mph EF3...Strong....136 to 165 mph EF4...Violent...166 to 200 mph EF5...Violent...>200 mph
The NWS said that the information in their statement is preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the events and publication in NWS Storm Data.
