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EF1 tornado in Okeechobee County, Florida

Tornado October 9, 2024 · Okeechobee County, Florida

EF1
Rating
7.8 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Okeechobee County → Indian River County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

The tornado has been confirmed using a combination of dual polarimetric data from the KMLB WSR-88D as well as photographic evidence of damage from Florida Power and Light's Fort Drum and Cavendish Solar Farms.

Based on a tornado debris signature (TDS), touch down occurred in a rural area of Okeechobee County, before the system continued toward the northwest. The circulation intersected the Fort Drum and Cavendish Solar Farms at approximately 1351EST where estimated winds of 80 to 90 mph damaged solar panels across both complexes. Damage cost estimates are not available.

The tornado continued toward the west-northwest into rural Indian River County where it dissipated south of State Road 60 and east of Florida's Turnpike.

The wider storm

Hurricane Milton moved ashore the west-central Florida coast as a category 3 hurricane on Oct 9 around 1930EST. The system continued slowly in an east-northeast trajectory across central Florida, becoming a category 1 hurricane before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. The outer rainbands of Milton overspread the Florida peninsula earlier in the day, leading to a prolific tornado outbreak across Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Osceola and Brevard counties with over 19 confirmed tornadoes within a 4-hour period. Milton's slow forward motion produced very heavy rainfall, with significant urban and street flooding particularly near and north of the center's track, as well as a significant river flood event along the St. Johns. Considerable tree damage and some structural damage occurred due to the system's tropical storm force winds, and hurricane force wind gusts, particularly near and north of the track of the center.

Began near Ft Drum (27.5940, -80.7890).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

17 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1220129. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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