The Northern Florida tornadoes of 2023

On October 9th, a very unstable atmosphere prompted the Storm Prediction Center to issue a Moderate risk of severe weather for much of Northern Florida and the Florida panhandle, including a 15% hatched area for tornadoes. During the early afternoon hours of on incredibly costly and devastating tornado outbreak was underway.

Notable Tornadoes
The Ocala Florida EF3 tornado with recorded winds at 163 mph.

The tornado touched down at 1322 PM and caused minimal damage to a lake house and continued into Ocala, causing severe damage and injuring 3 people when a car was overturned. The powerful high-end EF3 destroyed dozens of houses in a small subdivision. It dissipated with fair strength at an EF2.

The Gainesville, Florida EF2 tornado with est. peak winds at 120 mph.

A strong tornado touched down in downtown Gainesville, causing severe damage to many structures and ripping a gradual amount of a roof off of a large restaurant. A tornado emergency was declared because of the massive size of this tornado; it was 1.01 miles wide. Despite its size, widespread damage did not occur. Most damage was rated EF1; however sporadic EF2 damage did occur.