Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2023
EF0 tornado, Chipola Park, Florida, April 27, 2023
This EF0 tornado ran 0.9 miles across Calhoun County on April 27, 2023, touching down at 3:33 PM CDT and reaching 50 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
- April 27, 2023
- Touchdown
- 3:33 PM CDT (20:33 UTC)
- Lifted
- 3:35 PM CDT (20:35 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Calhoun County
- Touchdown point
- 30.210, -85.220
- Lift-off point
- 30.218, -85.208
- Record number
- 2304271433-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strong spring storm system moved through the area with ample instability and shear for severe weather. Numerous reports of severe weather were received across the tri-state area. Two tornadoes occurred across southwest Georgia, and seven tornadoes occurred across the eastern Florida panhandle and big bend. An EF2 tornado produced significant damage in the town of Hosford, FL.
A well defined TDS occurred in a rural area in far southern Calhoun county. No structures were in the path to be impacted. This tornado was rated EF0 due to tree damage.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
2 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:31 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:48 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 15:37 UTC and running to 21:43 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15:37 UTC | 21:43 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | TAE |
| 18:01 UTC | 18:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 18:41 UTC | 19:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 18:49 UTC | 19:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 19:10 UTC | 19:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 19:38 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Flood Advisory | TAE |
| 19:38 UTC | 20:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 20:15 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE |
| 20:31 UTC | 20:48 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 20:51 UTC | 22:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:10 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 air that afternoon
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.
Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z
8.6 hours before the tornado, 90 km from the path. April 27, 2023.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 485 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -75 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 38 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 706 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 6 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 77 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.8 K/km
The radar
The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:33 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 UTC | LIGHTNING | 1 Sw Pfn-Bay County Air | Bay, FL | *** 1 INJ *** A MAN WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING IN THE PANAMA CITY AREA. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 18:02 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 2 Sw Southport | Bay, FL | REPORT FROM MPING: PING PONG BALL (1.50 IN.). |
| 18:04 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 N Lynn Haven | Bay, FL | |
| 18:05 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 1 N Panama City | Bay, FL | REPORTED AT 426 WEST 23RD STREET, PANAMA CITY, FL. |
| 18:08 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 Wnw Southport | Bay, FL | THERE WERE MANY REPORTS OF HAIL AROUND THIS SIZE, INCLUDING AT THE EOC. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN AS WELL AT MANY LOCATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTY. |
| 19:15 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nne Scotts Ferry | Calhoun, FL | A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED THAT HE SAW A TORNADO TOUCH DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY 71 WITH DOWNED TREES ALONG THE HIGHWAY BETWEEN 2 PM AND 2:30 PM CT. |
| 19:29 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nne Scotts Ferry | Calhoun, FL | TREE DOWN ON HIGHWAY 71 SOUTH NEAR WILLIAMS MEMORIAL. |
| 19:52 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Nnw Telogia | Liberty, FL | DAMAGE IN THE HOSFORD AREA WITH A CONFIRMED TDS ON RADAR. |
| 20:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 58 | 2 W Millville | Gmz750, FL | 58 MPH GUST AS STATION PACF1. |
| 20:04 UTC | TSTM WND GST 59 | Tyndall Afb | Bay, FL | AWOS STATION KPAM TYNDALL AFB. |
| 20:05 UTC | TSTM WND GST 76 | 2 S Lynn Haven | Bay, FL | 76 MPH WIND GUSTS FROM BAY COUNTY SHERIFF OFFICE WEATHERSTEM. |
| 20:05 UTC | TORNADO | Lynn Haven | Bay, FL | PHOTOS OF STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WITH CONFIRMED TDS IN THE AREA. |
| 20:10 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 50 | 4 Se Tyndall Afb | Bay, FL | DRONE RUNWAY MEASURED 50 MPH GUST. |
| 20:11 UTC | TSTM WND GST 56 | 1 Ese Tyndall Afb | Bay, FL | AWOS STATION KPAM TYNDALL AFB. |
| 20:33 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ssw Chipola Park | Calhoun, FL | WELL DEFINED TDS ON RADAR. |
| 20:56 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 50 | 4 Sse Saint Joseph Stat | Gulf, FL | AMBIENT STATION GUSTED TO 50 MPH. |
| 21:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Scotts Ferry | Calhoun, FL | SEVERAL TREES DOWN IN CALHOUN COUNTY. |
| 21:23 UTC | TORNADO | 7 Nne Jewel Fire Tower | Wakulla, FL | BRIEF TDS ON RADAR. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 27, 2023
8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 27 | 2:14 PM CDT | EF0 | Calhoun, FL | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| April 27 | 3:54 PM EDT | EF2 | Liberty, FL | 2.5 | 960 | $500,000 | ||
| April 27 | 3:04 PM CDT | EF1 | Bay, FL | 0.8 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| April 27 | 5:21 PM EDT | EF0 | Wakulla, FL | 2.3 | 50 | |||
| April 27 | 6:11 PM EDT | EF1 | Thomas, GA | 1.2 | 160 | |||
| April 27 | 6:14 PM EDT | EF0 | Gadsden, FL | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| April 27 | 6:20 PM EDT | EF1 | Thomas, GA | 2.3 | 75 | $5,000 | ||
| April 27 | 6:42 PM EDT | EF1 | Madison, FL | 0.6 | 100 |
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.