Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 1983

F2 tornado, Highlands County, Florida, February 2, 1983

This F2 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Highlands County on February 2, 1983, touching down at 9:20 AM EST and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed 1 person and injured 6, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
February 2, 1983
Touchdown
9:20 AM EST (14:20 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
1
Injuries
6
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Highlands County
Touchdown point
27.450, -81.400
Record number
31

What the Weather Service recorded

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

AgeSexWhereKind
Direct

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 12:00Z

2.3 hours before the tornado, 103 km from the path. February 2, 1983.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 1983-02-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -8089, lifted condensation level 1276 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 1983-02-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 9 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8089 J/kg
Surface CAPE
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1276 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), 00:00Z

9.7 hours after it, 103 km from the path. February 3, 1983.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 1983-02-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 122 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 947 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 1983-02-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 77 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
122 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
600 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
77 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-185 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1983 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 2, 1983

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 24:30 AM ESTF1Hernando, FL1.020$5,000 to $50,000
February 24:45 AM ESTF1Citrus, FL2.0301$5,000 to $50,000
February 25:40 AM ESTF2Alachua, FL0.3204$50,000 to $500,000
February 26:00 AM ESTF1Pinellas, FL0.6401$50,000 to $500,000
February 26:30 AM ESTF1Volusia, FL0.210$500 to $5,000
February 26:50 AM ESTF2Hillsborough, FL4.0402$50,000 to $500,000
February 28:20 AM ESTF1DeSoto, FL0.530$500 to $5,000
February 28:40 AM ESTF1Volusia, FL2.050$50,000 to $500,000
February 28:45 AM ESTF2Orange, FL1.020$50,000 to $500,000
February 29:00 AM ESTF0Orange, FL0.2201$50 to $500
February 29:05 AM ESTF2Orange, FL5.0509$500,000 to $5 million
February 210:48 AM ESTF1Brevard, FL0.430$5,000 to $50,000
February 21:20 PM ESTF2Martin, FL2.0501$50,000 to $500,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.