EF2 Tornado — Okeechobee, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Basinger, Okeechobee, Florida

Event narrative

A tornado occurred, which produced localized EF-1 and EF-2 damage. Based on radar analysis and public video provided to the local emergency manager, the tornado touched down southeast of C & M Rucks Dairy.

While the tornado started over open pasture, damage occurred as it moved over C & M Rucks Dairy on NW 144th Ave. Here, a large steel barn with metal siding suffered a partial collapse on the southeast side, with at least 50% of the building destroyed.

Nearby power poles and lines were downed, and a power pole was snapped. The building damage was consistent with EF-2 winds of 105 to 115 mph. The path width was quite narrow, evidenced by nearby buildings which were untouched.

The tornado moved northwest from there, with sheet metal strewn along and west of NW 203rd St. There was no damage reported north of NW 240th St. Based on this and dual-polarimetric radar data, the tornado most likely lifted immediately south of NW 240th St over open pasture.

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 → (27.4318, -80.9535)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220130. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.