EF1 Tornado — St. Lucie, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Port St Lucie, St. Lucie, Florida

Event narrative

A NWS Storm Survey confirmed an EF-1 tornado impacted portions of St. Lucie County. Initial indications of minor residential impacts, in the form of missing shingles and soffit damage, appeared in the Crane Landing, Sawgrass Lakes, and Tulip Park subdivisions of Port St. Lucie. This, in addition to sporadic occurrences of tree damage, continued northward into communities adjacent to Florida's Turnpike, including but not limited to, Cashmere Cove, Bayshore Heights, Swan Park, and Northport Village. Damage noted here was consistent with 65 - 75 mph peak winds.

The tornado crossed into Fort Pierce where it produced significant structural damage to a metal canopy system at the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. Here, peak winds were estimated at around 90 mph or EF-1 tornado intensity. The circulation appears to have weakened shortly thereafter and the tornado likely lifted as it approached the I-95 and Okeechobee interchange.

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 → (27.2280, -80.3610)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220132. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.