EF2 tornado, West Pensacola to Pensacola Beach, Florida, June 15, 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

June 15, 2023

Touchdown

8:35 PM CDT (01:35 UTC)

Lifted

9:08 PM CDT (02:08 UTC)

On the ground

33 minutes

Path length

8.6 miles (13.8 km)

Path width

450 yards (411 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Escambia County

Touchdown point

30.413, -87.272

Lift-off point

30.324, -87.172

Record number

2306151935-01

16 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Loss of rooof covering on right side walls pushed in. Highest possible construction given location on beach leading to higher rating given degree of damage likely right side several palm trees snapped low.
• Continued loss of facad and roof uplift. Several heavy reinforced garage doors completely blown in. Snapped palm tree.
• Home under construction lost significant portions of the second floor. Homes lost significant portions of under deck and roofs. A large dumpster was thrown 80 yards due east.
• Uplift of roofs and siding. Garage door blown inward and wrapped around a piling.

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

Unusually strong wind shear combined with strong instability and numerous disturbances led to a very active period of severe weather through the month of June. Numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds were recorded along with a few tornadoes.

Damage survey found a very broad area roughly a mile and a half|wide of strong sporadic straight line winds beginning around|Fairfield drive and 52nd Ave in West Pensacola. No visual|convergence was noted until the area near N Old Corry Field Rd|and W Gregory St. Several large limbs were noted and few uproots|at this location in a loosely convergent pattern. This more|concentrated damage continued south-southeast across US 98 to|Barrancas Ave with a several mile wider swath of damaging winds.|The path at this point seems discontinuous with several weak areas|of convergence resulting in likely high end EF-0 damage embedded|within a broader damaging wind swath. A more concentrated area of|convergence appears around Fairway Drive on the north side of the|Pensacola County Club. Several hardwoods had large 2 foot in|diameter branches snapped and several softwood pines were snapped|as a more continuous path extended across the country club and|Bayshore Dr before moving out over Pensacola Bay. ||The tornado then likely continued as a waterspout traversing Pensacola Bay|dodging the western tip of Gulf Breeze before wrapping back|southeast towards Pensacola Beach. The tornado quickly|strengthened as it crossed Fort Pickens Rd near Galvez CT.|Significant damage to homes built to withstand significant|hurricanes was noted and thus damage estimates from this location leaned on|the higher side for given damage indicators. Several of the homes|across a quarter mile swath had damage to siding including|several sides beings completely removed. A few homes lost 20 to|60 percent of metal roofing material even with proper hurricane|code anchors. Several bottom floor garages were completely gutted|as garage doors were blown in and destroyed. Bottom exterior walls|blew out leading to complete exposure of the bottom floors.|Several palm trees across the area were snapped a few feet off the|ground. The most notable damage was right along Fort Pickens Rd|where a house under construction had the entire top floor and|roof removed. This damage was put on the lower end of estimates|as the house was under construction and an opening on the north|side may have helped the failure of the upper walls and floors.|However, a large dumpster likely weighing several hundred pounds|was thrown roughly 50-70 yards due east and was deposited between|two palm trees about 2 feet off the ground. The damage to the|home, dumpster combined with a garage door that failed being|wrapped around a concrete piling resulted in the peak wind|estimate of 120 mph. ||The tornado likely crossed over Fort Pickens Rd and into the |Gulf of Mexico where it likely dissipated. One other interesting |damage note was that at least two boats were tossed on the Pensacola |Bay side. One boat was found about 20-30 yards from the boat lift |upside down in the water. The other boat was thrown off the lift |and was reportedly found near Deer Point about a mile north across |the bay. This boat likely floated over there but still impressive. |There is no damage indicator for boats; however, the sheer |impressiveness helped support the higher rating given the surrounding |damage indicators.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:35 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:52 UTC and running to 02:00 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:05 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 Mobile radar (KMOB), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:37 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

31 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.