Waterspout — Gulf of Mexico From West End of Seven Mile Bridge To Halfmoon Shoal Out To 5 Fathoms, Gulf of Mexico

2024-02-18 · near Summerland Key, Gulf of Mexico From West End of Seven Mile Bridge To Halfmoon Shoal Out To 5 Fathoms, Gulf of Mexico

Event narrative

A waterspout, as continuing of an EF0 tornado that passed through the Venture Out community of Cudjoe Key, continued northeast from U.S. Highway 1, through Kemp Channel, and passing north of Niles Road Beach. The waterspout eventually made landfall as an EF0 tornado on Big Torch Key.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure moved from south Florida to the northern Bahamas with a trailing cold front extending west-northwest to over and just north of the Florida Keys. The cold front focused strong multi-cluster thunderstorm development during the early afternoon of February 18th, with redevelopment later that evening. One well-defined mesocyclone was observed on radar in association with a supercell thunderstorm, which passed from Cudjoe through Big Torch Keys accompanied by one EF0 tornado.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (24.6630, -81.4670)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1165397. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.