EF1 Tornado — St. Lucie, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Harmony Hgts, St. Lucie, Florida

Event narrative

The EF-1 tornado was one of several tornadoes to impact the area as Hurricane Milton's outer rainbands swept across the Treasure Coast. 911 call logs indicate that the tornado likely touched down in Fort Pierce North very near the Belcher Canal. Aside from vegetative damage, a few structures experienced partial roof loss in the vicinity of St. Lucie Blvd and N 25th St.

The circulation continued on a northwest trajectory and across the Treasure Coast International Airport airfield where several small planes were tossed and flipped. The ASOS at the airport recorded a 52 knots, or 60 mph, gust at 421 PM EDT. Radar data suggests that the circulation intensified as it moved over the open airfield and moved into a mainly forested area on the north side of the facility. As the tornado intersected with residential areas, more substantial damage to a few homes was noted, including those on Sparkling Pines Dr. and within the Island Pines Golf Club where the tornado likely produced peak wind speeds of 85 to 95 mph.

The system continued on a northwest trajectory toward the Lakewood Park section of Fort Pierce where an EF-2/EF-3 tornado crossed paths approximately one hour later. Here, distinguishing damage from the more significant tornado was extremely difficult. However, interviews with Lakewood Park and Spanish Lakes residents suggest that the initial tornado produced minor to moderate residential damage, mainly to carports, porches, awnings, etc. likely as a result of 65 to 75 mph winds.

While the radar-indicated debris signature continued northward, there were no additional reports of significant damage beyond the county line. It is assumed that the circulation lifted before moving into Indian River County.

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 → (27.4695, -80.3468)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220141. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.