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EF0 tornado in Sussex County, Delaware

Tornado September 11, 2023 · Sussex County, Delaware

EF0
Rating
0.7 mi
Path length
370 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 370 yards (0.21 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An EF-0 tornado occurred on the afternoon of September 11, 2023, in the Dagsboro area of Sussex County, Delaware.

The brief tornado began along Adams Road just east of Dagsboro where damage to multiple structures and trees was observed. A shed in a backyard of a home on Adams Road had partial roof and wall collapse, and an additional larger and more structurally sound shed just feet from the first one was shifted off of its foundation, had the door blown off, and had partial roof collapse. Damage to three homes along Adams Road was noted with glass windows blown out and partial siding and shingle loss. Numerous

large softwood trees were uprooted along the wood line behind the homes on Adams Road along and had large branches snapped off of the trunks.

Further south on Adams Road, very close to the intersection of Tingle Lane, minor loss of siding was noted on a home as well as some more tree and limb damage. This is likely where the tornado reached its maximum width of around 370 yards.

The tornado then continued a short distance down Piney Neck Road to near the intersection of Wild Goose Way where another softwood tree was uprooted in the backyard of a home. The tornado likely occluded at this point and lifted as no further damage was found further downstream.

The National Weather Service would like to thank Sussex County Emergency Management Agency, local Skywarn spotter coordinators, and the public for their assistance with this survey.

The wider storm

A boundary near the coast resulted in a few showers and thunderstorms popping up. One storm produced a tornado in southern Delaware.

Began near Dagsboro (38.5741, -75.2194).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1140558. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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