TornadoLookup

Home / Florida / Martin

EF0 tornado in Martin County, Florida

Tornado October 9, 2024 · Martin County, Florida

EF0
Rating
17.9 mi
Whole path
200 yd
Path width
$850K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Martin County → St. Lucie County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 initially touched down in a wooded area in Martin County, to the south of the SW Martin Hwy and I-95 Interchange. Martin County Fire Rescue reported a tractor trailer was flipped by the tornado near mile marker 109. The circulation continued north along the interstate, downing numerous trees along its path with estimated peak wind speeds of 75 to 85 mph. The tornado continued into St. Lucie County very near the intersection of the County Line Canal and Interstate 95 (near Mile Marker 114).

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 Indiantown Crl T Arp (27.1270, -80.3840).

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 1220131. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.