EF1 tornado, Medley to Miami Spgs, Florida, January 23, 2017

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 23, 2017

Touchdown

3:45 AM EST (08:45 UTC)

Lifted

3:48 AM EST (08:48 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.5 km)

Path width

123 yards (112 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Miami-Dade County

Touchdown point

25.816, -80.326

Lift-off point

25.833, -80.285

Record number

1701230245-01

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MFL, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 mph.

• healthy tree snapped at trunk around 4 feet above the ground
• front glass door of business broken
• shipping containers toppled over
• unit has rolled and shows damage

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

A strong squall line intensified well ahead of a cold front over the eastern Gulf of Mexico during the early morning hours of January 23rd. The line produced tornadoes in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. In addition to the tornadoes, straight line wind gusts of 60 mph or greater occurred in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 customers lost power in South Florida.

A tornado touched down just west of the Palmetto Expressway in the Doral Gardens complex near NW 79th Avenue and NW 48th Street, causing minor roof damage to an apartment building. The tornado then moved ENE and touched back down on the east side of the Palmetto Expressway in a warehouse district from NW 50th Street to NW 52nd Street between NW 74th and 69th avenues. In this area, EF-0 to borderline EF-1 damage (75-85 mph winds) was noted. A tractor trailer was overturned, at least 2 dozen empty cargo containers were moved, and minor roof damage occurred to an office building. ||The tornado then moved NE and crossed into Miami Springs. Primarily impacted was the Bird District between Shadow and Ludlum Avenues and Falcon and Dove Avenues. The worst damage was on the 1100 block of Falcon, Plover and Wren consisting of loss of roof covering material and downed trees. Winds were likely in the EF-1 range (90-95 mph) in this area. Damage was observed along a NE path along the remainder of the Miami Springs portion of the path, with most of the damage east of Hammond Drive to Okeechobee Road consisting of downed power lines and trees (EF-0). ||After crossing Okeechobee Road, the tornado entered the City of Hialeah and caused damage to the area from Red Road to W 2nd Avenue between West 10th and 13th streets. Four two-story apartment buildings sustained roof damage of EF-1 intensity (up to 95 mph). The tornado passed very close to a water plant, but no damage was noted there. The tornado lifted near W 2nd Avenue and W 13th Street. A total of 13 families were left homeless in Hialeah and required Red Cross assistance.||No damage estimated were received.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:44 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:03 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:57 UTC and running to 09:53 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 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), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:47 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 2017 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.