Tornadoes · United States · Florida · 2023

EF0 tornado, Havana to Concord, Florida, April 27, 2023

From Havana to Concord, this EF0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Gadsden County on April 27, 2023, touching down at 6:14 PM EDT and reaching 75 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
April 27, 2023
Touchdown
6:14 PM EDT (22:14 UTC)
Lifted
6:18 PM EDT (22:18 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Gadsden County
Touchdown point
30.625, -84.392
Lift-off point
30.628, -84.367
Record number
2304271614-01

The damage survey

60 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 93 mph.

  • Tree strikes from across bull headly
  • Tree blocking Golden Eagle Drive East. Cleaned up by survey time, thus no picture.
  • Several trees snapped, some uprooted with one blocking Deer Lake East.
  • Trees uprooted/snapped. One on a car, causing 1 injury.

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

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 brief tornado touchdown occurred in Gadsden County along County Road 12A. Numerous pine trees were snapped and uprooted near the intersection of CR-12A and Leslie Lewis Road. A few other trees were uprooted before the tornado dissipated just west of Concord Road. This tornado was rated EF0 with max winds estimated at 80 mph.

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

The warnings

29 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:45 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 15:37 UTC and running to 23:08 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:37 UTC23:08 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchTAE
19:38 UTC20:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
19:49 UTC20:15 UTCTornado WarningTAE
20:10 UTC20:25 UTCTornado WarningTAE
20:51 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE
21:45 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningTAE
21:47 UTC23:00 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 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

10.2 hours before the tornado, 26 km from the path. April 27, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2023-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 485 joules per kilogram, CIN -75, lifted condensation level 706 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2023-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:16 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
19:52 UTCTORNADO2 Nnw TelogiaLiberty, FLDAMAGE IN THE HOSFORD AREA WITH A CONFIRMED TDS ON RADAR.
21:23 UTCTORNADO7 Nne Jewel Fire TowerWakulla, FLBRIEF TDS ON RADAR.
21:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGCrawfordvilleWakulla, FL911 DISPATCH REPORTS NUMEROUS TREES DOWN ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTY DUE TO SEVERE STORMS MOVING THROUGH.
22:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W WakullaWakulla, FLFALLEN TREES AND LIMBS RESULTED IN A POWER OUTAGE.
22:07 UTCTSTM WND GST 652 S Shady RestGadsden, FLSPOTTER REPORTS 60 TO 70 MPH WIND GUSTS. POWER OUTAGES.
22:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S Lake JacksonLeon, FLTREE DOWN ON HOME IN THE 2900 BLOCK OF STOKLEY LANE.
22:15 UTCTORNADO2 Ene HavanaGadsden, FLCONFIRMED TDS ON RADAR.
22:18 UTCTSTM WND DMGHavanaGadsden, FLREPORT OF DOWNED TREES IN HAVANNA.
22:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Nnw Mission San LuisLeon, FLTREES DOWN ON TRIMBLE ROAD.
22:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N Tallahassee Comm CoLeon, FLTREE DOWN OVER THE ROAD AT OCALA AND THARPE.
22:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ese Orchard PondLeon, FLTREES DOWN MERIDIAN AND ORCHARD POND.
22:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Wnw Killearn LakesLeon, FLTREE DOWN ACROSS ROADWAY BANNERMAN AND TEQUESTA.
22:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGBradfordvilleLeon, FLTREE DOWN OVER ROADWAY.

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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 272:14 PM CDTEF0Calhoun, FL0.550
April 273:54 PM EDTEF2Liberty, FL2.5960$500,000
April 273:04 PM CDTEF1Bay, FL0.875$200,000
April 273:33 PM CDTEF0Calhoun, FL0.950
April 275:21 PM EDTEF0Wakulla, FL2.350
April 276:11 PM EDTEF1Thomas, GA1.2160
April 276:20 PM EDTEF1Thomas, GA2.375$5,000
April 276:42 PM EDTEF1Madison, FL0.6100

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.