EF2 tornado, Hosford, Florida, April 27, 2023

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

April 27, 2023

Touchdown

3:54 PM EDT (19:54 UTC)

Lifted

4:05 PM EDT (20:05 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

960 yards (878 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Liberty County

Touchdown point

30.383, -84.817

Lift-off point

30.407, -84.785

Record number

2304271354-01

55 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Missing shingles and skirting at the base peeled off.
• Minor loss of sheet metal roofing
• Metal roofing of carport peeled back
• Shed lifted up and was not tied down or anything. Sitting on cinder blocks.

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

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 large tornado touched down on the southwest side of Hosford, FL just west of NE Shadow Lane. The tornado snapped or uprooted several trees on NE Chester Street and NE Liberty Circle. There was some minor roof damage in this quadrant of town and a few damaged outbuildings. In the center of town, near the intersection of SR 20 and SR 65, a gas station and adjacent building suffered minor roof damage. Most damage in these areas was consistent with EF0 or EF1 winds. The tornado continued northeastward along SR 65 where the the highest concentration of damage was found. Damage to homes and snapped trees were noted on both sides of the highway with the trees felled in opposite directions on either side of the road. Several outbuildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. Several homes sustained roof damage on either side of the road. The most significant damage occurred just north of NE Granny Annie Road on SR 65. One single family home had the roof and back porch completely removed. An adjacent home on the same property had the roof of a second story bedroom removed with partial collapse of the walls. The tree damage in this area was also extensive. Winds in this location were estimated to be 125 mph, which justifies an EF2 rating. The tornado was also rather wide with a width around one-half mile at times. The tornado continued to the northeast along SR 65 for a short while, snapping trees along the way before potentially lifting. It is possible the tornado continued east of SR 65 for a ways, but there was no way for the survey team to access these areas. Damage cost was estimated.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:49 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 15:37 UTC and running to 22:17 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 16:23 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.

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:56 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 2023 tornado in FloridaEvery tornado in Florida since 1950Warnings in force in Florida nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.