EF1 Tornado — Osceola, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Apoxsee, Osceola, Florida

Event narrative

This tornado is a continuation of the event that touched down in Indian River County near Fellsmere Rd for a brief period. After crossing into the county around 1417EST, a notable swath of tree damage continued to the west-northwest toward Six Mile Rd. Here, the tornado likely reached its peak intensity based on radar data, and a large number of pine trees were seen to have snapped in a wooded area, indicative of EF-1 winds up to approximately 95 mph. The tornado continued on a northwest trajectory into a rural wooded area where it subsequently weakened and lifted before reaching US

Hwy 441 / Kenansville Rd. The tornado did not produce any known property damage.

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 → (27.8230, -80.8690)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1221443. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.