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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:46 UTC | 19:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 22:39 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 22:51 UTC | 23:03 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 23:10 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 00:01 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | TAE |
| 02:05 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 02:44 UTC | 03:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 05:55 UTC | 07:05 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:20 UTC | TSTM WND GST 41 | Wausau | Washington, FL | MESONET STATION 1485W FSWN WASHINGTON COUNTY EOC. |
| 02:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Eucheeanna | Walton, FL | LARGE POWER OUTAGE REPORTED SOUTHEAST OF DE FUNIAK SPRINGS. |
| 03:00 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Se Argyle | Walton, FL | HOLMES 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.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 14 | 1:04 AM CST | EF0 | Holmes, MS | 5.9 | 100 | $10,000 | ||
| December 14 | 2:54 AM CST | EF1 | Adams, MS | 5.2 | 300 | $75,000 | ||
| December 14 | 3:24 AM CST | EF1 | Jefferson, MS | 4.5 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| December 14 | 4:44 AM CST | EF0 | Forrest, MS | 0.2 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| December 14 | 5:09 AM CST | EF1 | Jones, MS | 4.0 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| December 14 | 5:14 AM CST | EF0 | Hinds, MS | 0.8 | 70 | $1,000 | ||
| December 14 | 5:48 AM CST | EF1 | Copiah, MS | 6.3 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| December 14 | 6:02 AM CST | EF1 | Madison, MS | 9.0 | 1,000 | $51,000 | ||
| December 14 | 6:30 AM CST | EF0 | Rankin, MS | 3.8 | 400 | $50,000 | ||
| December 14 | 6:44 AM CST | EF2 | Rankin, MS | 3.6 | 250 | $700,000 | ||
| December 14 | 7:37 AM CST | EF1 | Scott, MS | 5.2 | 400 | $40,000 | ||
| December 14 | 7:58 AM CST | EF1 | Scott, MS | 0.8 | 200 | $50,000 | ||
| December 14 | 7:58 AM CST | EF1 | Jefferson Davis, MS | 6.5 | 250 | $50,000 | ||
| December 14 | 9:25 AM CST | Unrated | Evangeline Parish, LA | 0.0 | 1 | |||
| December 14 | 10:49 AM CST | EF2 | Iberia Parish, LA | 5.2 | 300 | 16 | $500,000 | |
| December 14 | 10:52 AM CST | Unrated | Iberia Parish, LA | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| December 14 | 11:58 AM CST | EF1 | Tangipahoa Parish, LA | 6.8 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| December 14 | 12:08 PM CST | EF2 | Jasper, MS | 25.0 | 600 | $311,000 | ||
| December 14 | 1:13 PM CST | EF2 | Forrest, MS | 1.9 | 125 | $100,000 | ||
| December 14 | 1:57 PM CST | EF1 | Lauderdale, MS | 8.1 | 300 | $40,000 | ||
| December 14 | 2:19 PM CST | EF2 | Clarke, MS | 19.5 | 1,000 | $300,000 | ||
| December 14 | 2:20 PM CST | EF2 | Saint Charles Parish, LA | 9.8 | 75 | 1 | 8 | $250,000 |
| December 14 | 2:54 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 7.7 | 50 | |||
| December 14 | 3:02 PM CST | EF0 | Terrebonne Parish, LA | 1.6 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| December 14 | 3:17 PM CST | EF1 | Sumter, AL | 4.4 | 225 | |||
| December 14 | 3:28 PM CST | EF1 | Forrest, MS | 3.9 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| December 14 | 3:49 PM CST | EF2 | Jefferson Parish, LA | 10.6 | 200 | 10 | $150 million | |
| December 14 | 3:56 PM CST | EF0 | Pearl River, MS | 2.0 | 75 | |||
| December 14 | 4:43 PM CST | Unrated | Saint Bernard Parish, LA | 4.0 | 50 | |||
| December 14 | 5:01 PM CST | Unrated | Plaquemines Parish, LA | 7.1 | 50 | |||
| December 14 | 5:40 PM CST | EF2 | Washington, AL | 3.4 | 140 | |||
| December 14 | 5:48 PM CST | EF2 | Choctaw, AL | 2.7 | 120 | |||
| December 14 | 5:52 PM CST | EF1 | Harrison, MS | 2.3 | 100 | |||
| December 14 | 7:54 PM EST | EF0 | Liberty, FL | 3.6 | 25 | |||
| December 14 | 8:54 PM EST | EF0 | Franklin, FL | 0.3 | 210 | |||
| December 14 | 9:29 PM EST | EF1 | Wakulla, FL | 5.7 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| December 14 | 10:14 PM EST | EF0 | Wakulla, FL | 1.5 | 25 |
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.