Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2007

EF0 tornado, Collier City, Florida, February 28, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 2.2 miles across Broward County on February 28, 2007, touching down at 1:55 PM EST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

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

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
February 28, 2007
Touchdown
1:55 PM EST (18:55 UTC)
Lifted
2:00 PM EST (19:00 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
2.2 miles (3.5 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Broward County
Touchdown point
26.200, -80.220
Lift-off point
26.170, -80.210
Record number
0702281255-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A supercell thunderstorm moved across eastern Broward County, producing an EF0 tornado and several reports of large hail.

EF0 tornado touched down in Tamarac just northwest of the intersection of Commercial Boulevard and Rock Island Road, where broken tree limbs and branches were noted. Tornado moved through Woodlands Country Club where it reached its peak intensity of 80-85 mph, damaging a roof and a porch screen in the 5700 block of Bayberry Lane. The tornado continued south-southwest and mainly produced damage to vegetation in the form of broken tree limbs and branches before lifting near the Florida Turnpike and Oakland Park Boulevard in Lauderhill.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:42 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:38 UTC19:31 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMFL
18:42 UTC19:30 UTCTornado WarningMFL

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:21 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Miami, FL (KMFL), 12:00Z

6.9 hours before the tornado, 41 km from the path. February 28, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-02-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1132 joules per kilogram, CIN -82, lifted condensation level 1025 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, Miami, FL at 12:00Z on 2007-02-28The 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 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1132 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Surface CAPE
714 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1025 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Miami, FL (KMFL), 00:00Z

5.1 hours after it, 41 km from the path. March 1, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-03-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 581 joules per kilogram, CIN -60, lifted condensation level 964 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, Miami, FL at 00:00Z on 2007-03-01The 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 -11 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 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
581 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Surface CAPE
761 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
964 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:53 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:45 UTCHAIL 0.75MargateBroward, FLTRAINED SPOTTER ID PB7021 REPORTED PENNY SIZED HAIL NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF ROCK ISLAND RD AND GATEWAY.
18:55 UTCHAIL 1Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLQUARTER SIZED HAIL REPORTED NEAR INTERSECTION OF COMMERCIAL BLVD AND US 441.
18:55 UTCTORNADOTamaracBroward, FLREPORTED BY SPOTTER ID PB50609. SPOTTER SAW THE TORNADO OUTSIDE THE WINDOW NEAR PLEASANT HILL LANE.
18:58 UTCHAIL 0.75North LauderdaleBroward, FLPENNY SIZED HAIL INTERSECTION OF ROCK ISLAND RD AND MCNAB RD.
19:00 UTCHAIL 1Lauderdale LakesBroward, FLREPORTED NEAR US 441 AND OAKLAND PARK BLVD.
19:02 UTCHAIL 1Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLSPOTTER ID BR166 REPORTED HAIL COVERING THE GROUND AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTER AT BROWARD AND ANDREWS.
19:05 UTCHAIL 0.88Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLHAIL REPORTED JUST NORTH OF FORT LAUDERDALE EXECUTIVE AIRPORT.
19:06 UTCHAIL 0.88Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLREPORTED IN DOWNTOWN FORT LAUDERDALE BY SPOTTER BR220.
19:10 UTCHAIL 1Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLQUARTER SIZED HAIL REPORTED AT 1799 SE 17TH STREET.
19:10 UTCHAIL 1.75Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLREPORTED AT A1A AND SUNRISE BLVD.
19:13 UTCHAIL 1.5Fort LauderdaleBroward, FLREPORTED NEAR DAVIE BLVD EAST OF I-95.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 28, 2007

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 286:33 PM CSTEF0Woodson, KS0.350
February 286:53 PM CSTEF0Anderson, KS1.250
February 287:01 PM CSTEF0Allen, KS0.120
February 287:05 PM CSTEF1Anderson, KS9.4440
February 287:07 PM CSTEF0Allen, KS0.3250
February 287:24 PM CSTEF0Anderson, KS3.5100
February 287:30 PM CSTEF4Blue Mound–Mound City tornado, KS24.5800$400,000
February 288:27 PM CSTEF1Bates, MO12.9100$50,000
February 2810:05 PM CSTEF1Cass, MO6.250$50,000

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.