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EF0 tornado in Martin County, Florida

Tornado October 9, 2024 · Martin County, Florida

EF0
Rating
32.9 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
7
Injuries
$81.5M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

Using a combination of reports from Martin County Emergency Management and radar dual polarimetric data, the National Weather Service in Melbourne can confirm that a tornado moved northward out of Jupiter (Palm Beach County) and into far southern Martin County. This is associated with the Palm Beach Gardens tornado that was recorded by the National Weather Service Miami Office.

Radar data suggests the circulation was weakening as it moved into Martin County before crossing I-95 around Mile Marker 91. A report from Florida Highway Patrol indicated the tornado produced tree damage and flipped a tractor trailer at this location. The tornado subsequently moved into Jonathan Dickinson State Park where it believed to have lifted.

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 Hobe Sound (26.9568, -80.1867).

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 1220142. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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