EF1 tornado, (Fxe)Ft Laudrdl Exec to Coconut Creek, Florida, January 27, 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

January 27, 2016

Touchdown

9:30 AM EST (14:30 UTC)

Lifted

9:36 AM EST (14:36 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.7 km)

Path width

35 yards (32 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$850,000

County

Broward County

Touchdown point

26.235, -80.181

Lift-off point

26.260, -80.157

Record number

1601270830-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MFL, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 101 mph.

• overturned tractor at Wholefoods warehouse

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Several waves of severe storms developed across South Florida during the two day period of the 27th and 28th. The first wave of storms occurred with a weak warm front that lifted over the region during the morning hours of the 27th, producing a tornado along the east coast. This line persisted for most of the day, leading to minor flooding of roads in some locations. The second wave occurred as a Gulf low lifted northeast over the state and pushed a cold front into the region. Another tornado developed along the east coast, along with additional thunderstorm wind damage. Several days of rainfall also led to additional flooding of homes in Collier county.

The tornado first touched down near the intersection of NW 2nd Court and NW 43rd Avenue, snapping and uprooting several trees and damaging fences as it traveled to the northeast. Damage was reported across NW 42nd Avenue, Palmetto Drive, and Coconut Creek Boulevard in the path of the tornado. Discontinuous damage to trees and power lines occurred as the tornado then travelled across the Broward College North Campus. On the north end of campus, several cars in the north parking lot near the Health Sciences Building were tossed into each other. The tornado then crossed Coconut Creek Parkway just to the west of the Florida Turnpike, flipping a community bust on the road. The driver of the bus sustained a minor injury. On the north side of the road, the tornado moved through the Wynmoor Village Condo Complex where the most significant damage was reported. Numerous trees were uprooted across the complex, with a few snapped in half and debarked, along with snapped light poles and damage to fences. Several mid-level condo buildings sustained moderate roof damage where roofing material and portions of concrete block were peeled off and thrown several yards, damaging numerous cars in the parking lot. The tornado then crossed the Florida's Turnpike near the mile marker 67 entrance and exit ramps. Several cars were tossed and damaged along the Turnpike, including one southbound travelling car that was flipped into the northbound lane, resulting in a minor injury. The tornado then weakened as it moved to the east side of the Turnpike, where large limbs were broken off trees, power lines knocked down, and smaller trees uprooted along Blount Road. Minor roof damage occurred to the North Homeless Assistance Center in this area. A tractor trailer was flipped at the Whole Foods Warehouse along NW 19th street and Blount Road, before the tornado travelled further northeast causing moderate tree damage along NW 25th Avenue. The tornado lifted near Copans Road and NW 25th Street.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:27 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:00 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 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 Miami radar (KAMX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:27 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

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.