Tropical Storm — Coastal Duval, Florida

2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · Coastal Duval, Florida

Event narrative

Duval county reported wind gusts of 40-64 mph, with the highest of 64 mph at Mayport Naval Station. Generally, 1-2 inches of rain fell across Duval, with the highest total of 2.15 inches in Jacksonville Beach.

In response to Milton, Duval County (City of Jacksonville) opened up 6 shelter locations across the city, and deployed surge-mitigation measures at vulnerable locations along the dune line and low-lying areas along the St Johns River.

The first rainband came through early morning on Oct. 9th with KNRB Mayport Naval Station measuring a gust of 43 MPH at 3:01 am. Winds begin to ramp up after midnight on Oct. 10th with peak winds occurring between 3-5 AM EDT. At 12:42 am, a mesonet station at Huguenot Park measured a wind gust of 50 mph. At 12:44 am, the AWOS station at Naval Station Mayport measured a wind gust of 52 mph, then at 1:52 am the station measured a gust of 61 mph. At 1:58 am, a mesonet 1 mile ENE of Fort Caroline measured a wind gust of 50 mph. At 2:13 am, a mesonet site about 1 mile ENE of Fort Caroline measured a wind gust of 54 mph. At 3:30 AM, 1482W Fswn Duval Neptune Beach WeatherSTEM station reported a sustained wind of 48 mph and a gust of 51 mph. At 3:40 am, a mesonet station 1 mile NNE of Jacksonville Beach measured a wind gust of 53 mph. At 3:43 AM, XJAK Jacksonville station reported a sustained wind of 45 mph with a gust of 58 mph. At 3:52 AM, AWOS station KNRB Mayport Naval Station measured a wind gust of 64 mph. At 3:53 AM, ASOS station KCRG Jacksonville Craig measured a sustained wind of 45 mph and a gust of 58 mph. At 4:40 am, a mesonet station 1 mile NNE of Jacksonville Beach measured a sustained wind o f 44 mph. At 5:48 am, a mesonet site about 1 mile WNW of Fort Caroline measured a wind gust of 48 mph.

On Oct. 10th at 5 PM, the Pottsburg Creek at Beach Boulevard river gauge reached moderate flood stage and measured a peak height of 2.62 Ft MHHW which resulted in flooded docks, multiple flooded yards and a couple of outbuildings were inundated with floodwaters. On Oct. 10th at 5:24 PM, St. Johns River at Main Street Bridge reached moderate flood stage and measured a peak height of 2.53 ft MHHW resulting in street flooding of the typical flood-prone areas of San Marco, Hogans Creek, Osceola St, Bee St, Southampton Rd, and E Forsyth Street.

Wider weather episode

A tropical disturbance over the southwest Gulf of Mexico quickly developed into Tropical Storm

Milton on Saturday, October 5th. Milton then moved slowly east-southeastward, strengthening into a

hurricane the following day. On Monday, October 7th, the storm underwent rapid intensification,

reaching Category 5 strength as it neared the northwestern coast of Mexico's Yucatn Peninsula. Late

on Monday and into Tuesday, Milton shifted eastward and then northeastward across the

southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

As Milton approached Florida's Gulf coast on Wednesday, October 9th, it began to gradually weaken,

but still maintained major hurricane status. The storm made landfall that evening near Siesta Key on

Florida's west coast as a strong Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

While it weakened further as it crossed central Florida overnight, Milton remained a hurricane. By

early Thursday morning, October 10th, it emerged off Florida's Atlantic coast as a Category 1 storm.

Milton caused widespread impacts across north-central and northeast Florida, as well as coastal

southeast Georgia. Flagler County, along with large portions of St. Johns, Putnam, and Marion

counties, experienced sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts. Rainfall

amounts ranged from 7 to 11 inches as outer rainbands and the storm's powerful northern side

swept through these areas late Wednesday night into early Thursday morning.

This heavy rainfall caused Deep Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River in St. Johns County, to reach

record levels on Thursday, October 10th, surpassing the previous record set during Hurricane Irma in

2017. This led to extensive flooding throughout the southern half of St. Johns County, particularly in

the Flagler Estates community and the towns of Hastings and Spuds. Additionally, record flooding was

observed along Haw Creek in western Flagler County, exceeding the previous record set in the

aftermath of Hurricane Ian in 2022.

Storm surge flooding of around 3 feet above Mean Higher High Water (MHHW) was recorded along

the St. Johns River and the northeast Florida coast. Significant inundation was reported along the

lower St. Johns River, with widespread flooding in areas such as Welaka, FL.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1213111. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.