EF1 Tornado — Okeechobee, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Ft Drum, Okeechobee, Florida

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.5940, -80.7890)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220129. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.