EF0 tornado, Delray Beach to Hypoluxo, Florida, January 28, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

January 28, 2016

Touchdown

10:32 AM EST (15:32 UTC)

Lifted

10:43 AM EST (15:43 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

7.1 miles (11.5 km)

Path width

10 yards (9 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Palm Beach County

Touchdown point

26.457, -80.103

Lift-off point

26.545, -80.043

Record number

1601280932-01

9 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 70 mph.

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 initially touched down near the intersection of SW 3rd Street and SW 27th Avenue, before travelling northeast and causing roof damage to a church at the corner of Homewood Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. The tornado then travelled north-northeast, leading to snapped trees and broken large branches near N Congress Avenue just west of I-95. Additional large downed trees were reported in the Delray Park of Commerce Complex in this area. The tornado then crossed I-95 near Lake Ida and Lake Ida Park, leading to tree and fence damage along the east side of the lake. The tornado then lifted briefly, before touching down again a mile or so northeast near Bethesda Hospital where additional tree and fence damage in the vicinity. The track continued to the north-northeast, crossing US 1 to the north of E Woolbright Road. Large limbs and several small trees were knocked down at several businesses along the US 1 corridor. Additional minor damage was reported in the Sterling Village Condominiums before the tornado briefly became a waterspout as it crossed the Intracoastal Waterway. The track then briefly moved across the barrier island near E Ocean Avenue, before moving offshore near Boynton Inlet.

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.

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.

Boca Raton Airport (BCT), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Miami radar (KAMX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:34 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.