Marine Hurricane/Typhoon — St Augustine To Flagler Beach Fl Out 20nm, Atlantic South
2024-10-09 to 2024-10-10 · St Augustine To Flagler Beach Fl Out 20nm, Atlantic South
Event narrative
On 10/9 at 9:20 PM, FSWN St. Johns County Fire Station reported wind gusts of 51 mph with sustained winds of 40 mph. At 11 pm, the C-man station SAUF1 measured sustained winds of 44 mph with gusts to 49 mph. At 11:20 pm, a mesonet site at JFRD fire station reported sustained winds of 44 mph with gusts to 60 mph. At 11:20 pm, a mesonet site in the City of St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 52 mph. At 11:56 pm, the AWOS at the St. Augustine Airport measured a wind gust of 52 mph.
On 10/10, at 12 am, a mesonet site at the St. Johns County Fire Station 2 miles SSE of South Ponte Vedra measured a wind gust of 62 mph. Also at 12 am, the C-Man station SAUF1 measured sustained winds o f46 mph with a gust of 54 mph. At 12:38 am, the AWOS at the St. Augustine airport measured a gust of 55 mph. At 1:25 am, the airport AWOS measured a wind gust of 59 mph. At 1:50 am, a mesonet site in the City of St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 55 mph. At 1:55 am, a mesonet site 2 miles NW of St. Augustine called Lewis measured a gust of 60 mph. At 1:56 am, the St. Augustine airport AWOS measured a sustained wind of 52 mph with a gust of 60 mph. Also at 1:56 am, a mesonet site 1 mile SSE of Crescent Beach called Summerhouse measured a gust of 55 mph. At 2 AM, AWOS station KSGJ St Augustine measured a sustained wind of 52 mph with a wind gust of 60 mph. At 2:10 am, a mesonet site 2 miles NW of St. Augustine called Lewis measured a wind gust of 63 mph. At 2:20 am, a mesonet site 2 miles SSE of South Ponte Vedra Beach measured a wind gust of 67 mph. At 2:30 AM, FSWN St. Johns County Fire Station measured a peak wind gust of 70 mph. At 2:40 am, a mesonet site in the City of St. Augustine measured a wind gust of 59 mph. At 2:41 am, a mesonet site 1 mile SSE of Crescent Beach called Summerhouse measured a wind gust of 63 mph. At 2:55 AM, XLWS Lewis reported a sustained wind of 44 mph with a gust to 64 mph. At 3 AM, SAUF1 1 NNE Saint Augustine Beach reported sustained winds of 56 mph with a wind gust of 67 mph. At 3:30 am, a mesonet site in the City of St. Augustine measured a sustained wind of 55 mph with a gust of 61 mph.
The first rainband came through on the morning of Oct. 9th at 1000 am with 1423W Fswn Flagler County Em Marineland measuring a gust of 41 mph. At 12:40 pm, the same station measured a wind gust of 47 mph.
Winds begin to ramp up in the evening of Oct. 9th with peak winds occurring on Oct. 10th between 12-4 AM EDT.
Between 7-8 PM EDT on Oct. 9th, 1423W Fswn Flagler County Em Marineland measures gusts beginning with 50 mph to 56 mph. At 9 PM, Fswn Flagler County Em Marineland reported 59 mph wind gusts with sustained winds of 49 mph. At 9:15 PM, FW7349 Flagler Beach observation site reported a wind gust of 50 mph with sustained wind speed of 31 mph. At 9:50 PM, Fswn Flagler County Em Marineland reported a wind gust of 64 mph. At 11 pm, the Marineland mesonet had a gust of 67 mph. At 11:50 pm, a mesonet site 1 mile ESE of Flagler Beach measured a gust of 60 mph. At 12 am on 10/10, the Marineland mesonet site reported a gust of 69 mph. At 12:20 am, the Marineland mesonet site measured a sustained wind of 57 mph with a gust of 73 mph. At 12:56 am, a spotter in Flagler Beach reported a measured wind gust of 72 mph. At 1:37 am, a spotter in Flagler Beach measured a sustained wind of 48 mph with a gust of 76 mph. At 1:40 am, the Marineland mesonet station measured a wind gust of 76 mph and then at 1:50 am the site reported a wind gust of 84 mph.
NOTE: The Marineland mesonet site was on the higher end of observations, even higher than some gusts reported near the eyewall closer to Cape Canaveral. The data is suspect.
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 1217542. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.