EF1 tornado, Moore Haven, Florida, February 16, 2016

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

February 16, 2016

Touchdown

4:49 AM EST (09:49 UTC)

Lifted

4:53 AM EST (09:53 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Glades County

Touchdown point

26.817, -81.106

Lift-off point

26.828, -81.080

Record number

1602160349-01

A strong squall line intensified well ahead of a cold front over the eastern Gulf of Mexico during the early morning hours of February 16th. The line produced straight line wind damage near Naples as it moved onshore, along with tornadoes in Glades and Collier counties. Three additional tornadoes developed across the east coast metro in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, as the squall line interacted with the southeasterly flow along the coast. In addition to the tornadoes, straight line wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were reported across eastern Palm Beach and Broward counties, producing damage in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar. Small hail was also reported in Davie and Sunrise with a tornadic storm.

The tornado initially touched down near the intersection of West Avenue and North Avenue, creating partial roof damage to a home along North Avenue as well as destroying a back porch and piercing side of nearby shed with debris. The tornado then traveled to the northeast, downing powerlines along the northeast side of the intersection of North Avenue and Riverside Drive SW as well as partially destroying a fence and uprooting trees. The tornado then moved northeast across the Caloosahatchee River. Additional roof debris was found in open fields on the east side of the river near River Road and Azalea Avenue. The tornado then tracked across open fields, before crossing Old US 27 and US 27 near Yaun Road. The most signficant damage occurred along the north side of Yaun Road where two mobile homes were destroyed. One mobile home was flipped and totaled, with debris scattered in a nearby field. The second mobile home remained standing, but most of the walls were removed. In addition to the mobile homes, a nearby fence was knocked down along with the destruction of a greenhouse, and dog and chicken pens. The porch roof of another mobile home was also destroyed. The tornado then lifted shortly thereafter just before crossing the railroad tracks near Park Avenue East.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:19 UTC and running to 12:31 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:24 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 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.

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:48 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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