Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2022

EF0 tornado, Argyle, Florida, December 14, 2022

This EF0 tornado ran 1.6 miles across Walton County on December 14, 2022, touching down at 8:55 PM CST and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
December 14, 2022
Touchdown
8:55 PM CST (02:55 UTC)
Lifted
9:00 PM CST (03:00 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.6 miles (2.6 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Walton County
Touchdown point
30.678, -86.029
Lift-off point
30.700, -86.020
Record number
2212142055-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front moved through the area during the Dec 14-15 time frame, bringing with it a round of beneficial rainfall. A few severe storms also occurred across the tri-state area, including a few tornadoes.

The Holmes county dispatch received calls of a possible tornado touchdown near Walton County Road 183. In addition, a tornadic debris signature (TDS) was present on radar. Damage consisted of several trees blown down. The tornado was rated EF0 with max winds estimated near 85 mph.

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

The warnings

11 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:44 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:01 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:46 UTC19:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
22:39 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
22:51 UTC23:03 UTCTornado WarningTAE
23:10 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
00:01 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WatchTAE
02:05 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
02:44 UTC03:15 UTCTornado WarningTAE
05:55 UTC07:05 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:38 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 radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:55 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
00:20 UTCTSTM WND GST 41WausauWashington, FLMESONET STATION 1485W FSWN WASHINGTON COUNTY EOC.
02:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGEucheeannaWalton, FLLARGE POWER OUTAGE REPORTED SOUTHEAST OF DE FUNIAK SPRINGS.
03:00 UTCTORNADO2 Se ArgyleWalton, FLHOLMES COUNTY SO DISPATCH RECEIVED CALLS OF POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ON WALTON COUNTY RD 183.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 14, 2022

37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 141:04 AM CSTEF0Holmes, MS5.9100$10,000
December 142:54 AM CSTEF1Adams, MS5.2300$75,000
December 143:24 AM CSTEF1Jefferson, MS4.5300$50,000
December 144:44 AM CSTEF0Forrest, MS0.250$40,000
December 145:09 AM CSTEF1Jones, MS4.050$20,000
December 145:14 AM CSTEF0Hinds, MS0.870$1,000
December 145:48 AM CSTEF1Copiah, MS6.3150$10,000
December 146:02 AM CSTEF1Madison, MS9.01,000$51,000
December 146:30 AM CSTEF0Rankin, MS3.8400$50,000
December 146:44 AM CSTEF2Rankin, MS3.6250$700,000
December 147:37 AM CSTEF1Scott, MS5.2400$40,000
December 147:58 AM CSTEF1Scott, MS0.8200$50,000
December 147:58 AM CSTEF1Jefferson Davis, MS6.5250$50,000
December 149:25 AM CSTUnratedEvangeline Parish, LA0.01
December 1410:49 AM CSTEF2Iberia Parish, LA5.230016$500,000
December 1410:52 AM CSTUnratedIberia Parish, LA0.210
December 1411:58 AM CSTEF1Tangipahoa Parish, LA6.850$5,000
December 1412:08 PM CSTEF2Jasper, MS25.0600$311,000
December 141:13 PM CSTEF2Forrest, MS1.9125$100,000
December 141:57 PM CSTEF1Lauderdale, MS8.1300$40,000
December 142:19 PM CSTEF2Clarke, MS19.51,000$300,000
December 142:20 PM CSTEF2Saint Charles Parish, LA9.87518$250,000
December 142:54 PM CSTEF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA7.750
December 143:02 PM CSTEF0Terrebonne Parish, LA1.650$100,000
December 143:17 PM CSTEF1Sumter, AL4.4225
December 143:28 PM CSTEF1Forrest, MS3.950$40,000
December 143:49 PM CSTEF2Jefferson Parish, LA10.620010$150 million
December 143:56 PM CSTEF0Pearl River, MS2.075
December 144:43 PM CSTUnratedSaint Bernard Parish, LA4.050
December 145:01 PM CSTUnratedPlaquemines Parish, LA7.150
December 145:40 PM CSTEF2Washington, AL3.4140
December 145:48 PM CSTEF2Choctaw, AL2.7120
December 145:52 PM CSTEF1Harrison, MS2.3100
December 147:54 PM ESTEF0Liberty, FL3.625
December 148:54 PM ESTEF0Franklin, FL0.3210
December 149:29 PM ESTEF1Wakulla, FL5.775$50,000
December 1410:14 PM ESTEF0Wakulla, FL1.525

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.