EF2 tornado, Palm Beach Gardens to North Palm Beach, Florida, April 29, 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 29, 2023

Touchdown

5:10 PM EDT (21:10 UTC)

Lifted

5:21 PM EDT (21:21 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.2 km)

Path width

320 yards (293 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Palm Beach County

Touchdown point

26.825, -80.090

Lift-off point

26.849, -80.059

Record number

2304291510-01

53 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.

• Multiple cars displaced causing damage. A few cars flipped and lofted high enough to stack.
• Leaning concrete electrical pole and uprooted tree.
• Substantial tree damage including a car totaled by flying debris and large branches.
• Several homes with broken windows and roof damage from wind or large branches.

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

Following ample sunshine, mesoscale boundary collisions created afternoon and evening showers and strong thunderstorms across South Florida April 29th, especially around Lake Okeechobee and Palm Beach County. A cell merger that began in Palm Beach Gardens was able to take advantage of a favorable environment for tornadoes and spawned an EF-2 tornado in Palm Beach County.

The tornado began in eastern Palm Beach Gardens, just east of Interstate 95, and moved northeast across A1A, passing just south of the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. As it moved through the Sanctuary Cove community, it crossed State Road 786 (PGA Boulevard) near the intersection with US-1. After a short trek up US-1, the tornado dissipated before reaching Juno Beach. Light tree damage consistent with an EF-0 was noted near the determined starting point of the tornado. The tornado strengthened quickly to an EF1 as it moved through the Gardens East apartment complex. Significant tree damage ranging from uprooted trees to snapped trunks were noted in this community. The tornado then moved through the Sandalwood Estates |community off of Burns road. Quite a bit of tree debris was scattered throughout this community, with several large trees completely uprooted. One notable damage indicator was a greater than 3 inch diameter branch that pierced the metal roof of a |residence. A countless number of large branches were stripped from trees throughout the community with a few snapped trunks near the worst of the damage in this area. The tornado then moved through the Rainwood community where a home suffered broken windows and had many shingles removed. Similar tree damage continued into this neighborhood.||When the tornado crossed Prosperity Farms Road and entered the Sanctuary Cove community, this was where it strengthened to EF-2 intensity reaching an estimated peak wind of 130 mph. Some of the most substantial structural damage was noted here with collapsed roofs, broken windows, removed roofing material, and debarking of trees. The EF2 tornado then cross the North Palm Beach Waterway where it completely destroyed a manufactured home along the canal bank. As the tornado moved NNE it crossed into the Point at Palm Beach Gardens community where it created minor structural damage to the complex, but had some of its most photographed moments as |cars were displaced, flipped, and stacked on each other. The tornado then moved through the City Centre where considerable tree, light post, and street sign damage was noted. As it crossed PGA Blvd the tornado destroyed a dry cleaners business, collapsed large light poles, and even caused a concrete electrical pole to lean. The last notable damage was still at EF2 strength when the tornado crossed US 1 and caused two cars to be flipped and displaced on the opposite side of US 1. Several videos of the |incident were witnessed, as well as one from inside the vehicle, and the survey crew was able to interview one of the drivers. The tornado quickly lifted after crossing US 1 where it caused minor tree damage in a shopping center. Damage value is estimated based on the number of structures, vehicles, and trees damaged.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 Miami radar (KAMX), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:10 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

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.