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EF0 tornado in St. Lucie County, Florida

Tornado October 9, 2024 · St. Lucie County, Florida

EF0
Rating
17.9 mi
Whole path
100 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 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

This tornado, which initially touched down in Martin County near the I-95 and SW Martin Highway interchange, moved north into St. Lucie County into the Rosser Reserve subdivision, numerous residential structures experienced minor to moderate damage in the form of damage to shingles, soffits, and gutters from winds of EF-0 intensity.

The system subsequently impacted the Hidden Oaks community where a home experienced major damage when part of its roof was peeled back due to winds of up to 85 mph. The circulation appeared to have weakened as it continued north into St. Lucie West with little more than large branches and a few downed trees noted. A few homes in the Torino area of Port St. Lucie had mainly minor damage to roofs and siding. The tornado appears to have lifted as it approached the I-95 and Midway Interchange.

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 Port St Lucie (27.2060, -80.4020).

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 1221438. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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