EF2 tornado, Boca Raton to Loxahatchee, Florida, September 27, 2022

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

September 27, 2022

Touchdown

8:59 PM EDT (00:59 UTC)

Lifted

9:17 PM EDT (01:17 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

7.0 miles (11.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

County

Palm Beach County

Touchdown point

26.370, -80.105

Lift-off point

26.464, -80.149

Record number

2209271859-01

129 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MFL, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Snapped trees screened pool area damage
• Concrete shingle and roof damage
• Snapped tree and shingle damage
• Trees snapped and thrown into homes, cars rolled over. Stripped large branches.

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

A tropical depression formed in the central Caribbean Sea on September 23rd, then was upgraded to Tropical Storm Ian at 11 PM on September 23rd. Ian moved westward, then turned northwest on September 25th, passing just west of Jamaica and near the Cayman Islands. Ian became a hurricane on Monday, September 26th south of western Cuba, then moved north and made landfall in Pinar Del Rio Province, Cuba early on Tuesday, September 27th as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. ||Ian moved into the SE Gulf of Mexico around midday on Tuesday, September 27th, then moved over Dry Tortugas as a Category 3 hurricane later that evening. Ian strengthened over the SE Gulf of Mexico as it approached Southwest Florida, becoming a Category 4 hurricane at 7 AM on Wednesday, September 28th with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and a lowest central pressure of 936 mb. Ian moved N-NE and made landfall in Cayo Costa west of Fort Myers at 3:05 PM on Wednesday, September 28th with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and minimum central pressure of 940 mb. ||Ian moved NE across the central Florida peninsula during the evening and night of Wednesday, September 28th, finally being downgraded to a tropical storm about 20 miles west of Melbourne at 5 AM Thursday, September 29th. Ian moved off the east coast of Florida just north of Cape Canaveral during the mid-morning hours of Thursday, September 29th. ||Ian produced a catastrophic storm surge across coastal sections of SW Florida on Wednesday, September 28th. Storm surge from surveys was estimated in the 8-11 ft range above MHHW along the Gulf beaches from Naples north to Barefoot Beach, and extending inland about 1 mile. Storm surge of 4-7 ft above MHHW was surveyed in the Naples Bay area and extending north to the Naples Airport area, as well as in North Naples near the Cocohatchee River. Farther south and east along the coast, storm surge values were estimated at 5-7 feet above MHHW in Marco Island and Goodland, and 4-6 ft MHHW in Everglades City and Chokoloskee.||Wind gusts as high as 110 mph were measured in the Naples area at heights well above the standard surface elevation of 33 feet. Sustained winds in the 70-75 mph range likely occurred in NW Collier County as well as far western sections of Hendry and Glades counties. Elsewhere across South Florida, peak winds were generally in the 45-70 mph range. ||A total of 13 reported tornadoes were spawned by Ian on Tuesday, September 27th and early on Wednesday, September 28th as it was approaching the SW Florida coast, the strongest being an EF-2 in the Delray Beach area of Palm Beach County. ||Storm total rainfall amounts from 8 AM on September 26th to 8 AM on September 29th ranged from 4 to 10 inches across southern Florida. The highest rainfall amounts occurred in the day or two leading up to the storm's landfall, with highest values over western metro Broward County in the 8-10 inch range, as well as in parts of the city of Miami.||All of the associated effects of Ian in southern Florida resulted in 10 fatalities, at least 2 injuries, $2.2 billion in property damage, and at least $500,000 in crop damage. The vast majority of the damage was likely caused by the significant to major storm surge in Collier County. Of the 10 deaths, 2 were directly caused by the storm surge in Collier County, and the remaining 8 were indirectly caused by the storm during evacuation, preparation, and clean-up activities. The 13 associated tornadoes resulted in 2 injuries an estimated $2.5 million in property damage.||Six people were injured at South Pointe Pier Park on Miami Beach on September 30th by large waves caused by swells from the back side of Ian.

A strong tornado affected portions of Boca Raton and unincorporated Delray Beach on the evening of September 27th, 2022. The beginning of the identified damage was at the Florida Atlantic University Campus in Boca Raton, where siding was torn off of a |building. Doppler radar showed evidence of strong rotation along the track, however damage reports are unavailable for the remainder of the Boca Raton portion of the track. EF-0 damage was noted at the American Heritage School just south of Linton Blvd where trees were uprooted and fences were damaged. ||The tornado intensified after crossing Linton Blvd and entered the Kings Point community. Considerable damage to condominium buildings, trees, and vehicles was noted. EF-1 and EF-2 damage was common in Kings Point. The roof was completely lifted off of a small two-story building complex, with an adjacent larger two-story building complex having about 25% of its roof lifted. Several palm trees were snapped at the middle, and one of the snapped palm trees crashed into a second story|unit and tore a large hole into the wall. A few cars were flipped and moved, and many large tree branches were snapped at the top of the tree canopies. ||In Kings Point, 2 people were injured in their homes when their roof collapsed. One person was rescued from her bathroom after her roof collapsed. A total of about 30 people were evacuated. ||Just north of the Kings Point community, large tree branches were broken off trees at a Home Depot parking lot at Jog Road and Atlantic Avenue. The tornado continued north of Atlantic Avenue and entered the Villages of Oriole where EF-1 damage was observed to a few homes, mainly in the form of roof uplift and loss of roof covering/shingles. The tornado lifted in the area of Jog Road and N. Oriole Blvd.

Tornado began in Wellington just north of Greenbriar Park, causing EF-0 to EF-1 damage in the form of torn roof tiles and many broken tree branches in the Wanderer's Golf Course community. The tornado moved northwest into the Lakefield West and Meadow Wood of the Landings communities, causing minor roof damage before crossing Flying Cow Ranch Road and moving over open land south of Southern Boulevard. ||Damage totals are estimated based on at least 2 dozen homes sustaining roof damage.||The tornado crossed Southern Boulevard near Lion Country Safari Road, causing significant tree damage, then passed just west of Lion Country Safari into Loxahatchee where tree trunks were snapped in the Buck Ridge Trail and Hanover Circle area. |The last reported damage was fence damage at Hanover Circle and Duellant Road.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS MFL issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:59 UTC and running to 09:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:56 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), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Miami radar (KAMX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:58 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 2022 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.