NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
Visit:NCEI U.S. Tornadoes
According to preliminary data from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, during September, there were 19 preliminary tornado reports. This was 25.6 percent of the 1991-2010 average of 74 tornadoes for the month of September. Of the tornadoes that did form during September, more than half (10) formed in southern Florida from Hurricane Ian on September 27. In a very quiet month, no other day reported more than one tornado.
On September 27, there were ten tornadoes across South Florida ahead of Hurricane Ian's landfall. One of these tornadoes was an EF1 that severely damaged several airport hangars and more than one dozen aircraft in Broward County at the North Perry Airport. This tornado also damaged commercial buildings including a grocery store. There were no reported injuries or fatalities.
One of the stronger tornadoes from Hurricane Ian was an EF2 that caused damage to homes, vehicles and other infrastructure in Kings Point, Florida. Two people were injured when a roof collapsed. There were no other reported injuries or fatalities from this tornado.
Another weaker EF1 tornado from Ian caused damage to trees and other vegetation at a golf course in Palm Beach County. There were no other reported injuries or fatalities from this tornado.
Did You Know?
Tornado Count
Final monthly tornado counts are typically less than the preliminary count. This can be due to some phenomena being inaccurately reported as tornadic activity or a single tornado being reported multiple times. Tornado accounts are reported to the local National Weather Service forecast offices who are responsible for going into the field and verifying each tornado reported. This process often takes several months to complete. Once all reports have been investigated, the final count is published by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).
The Tornado Monthly Climate Reports are written using the preliminary numbers because the final data is not available at the time of production. Historically, for every 100 preliminary tornado reports, at least 65 tornadoes are confirmed. An error bar is depicted on the tornado count graphic representing this uncertainty in the preliminary tornado count.
The following U.S. studies performed by SPC meteorologists offer deeper context and discussion regarding the frequency and distribution of tornado intensity climatologies:
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Edwards, R., H. E. Brooks, and H. Cohn, 2021: Changes in tornado climatology accompanying the Enhanced
Fujita scale. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 60, 1465-1482
DOI: 10.1175/JAMC-D-21-0058.1. - Mccarthy, Daniel & Schaefer, Joseph. (2004). Tornado trends over the past thirty years. paper presented at 14th Conference on Applied Meteorology.