Thunderstorm Wind — Duval, Florida

2008-08-13 · near Eggleston Hgts, Duval, Florida

Event narrative

The Jacksonville Port Authority reported two large 125 foot tall container ship cranes collapsed at Blount Island Marine Terminal. Each container was 950 tons. A squall line was moving across the area when the collapsed occurred. The KJAX Doppler radar indicated 45 to 50 knot velocities at approximately 600 feet msl. Each crane cost $6 million.

Wider weather episode

A deepening upper level trough over the southeast region lifted a deep plume of tropical moisture over the forecast area. A strong low level 850 mb jet of 50-55 knots was in place. Backing winds advected instability inland from the Gulf of Mexico across north Florida which coincided with the passing of a second pre-frontal squall line as it tracked across north Florida and Southeast Georgia in the afternoon. Low level storm relative helicities increased to 200-350 M2/S2. Widespread severe storms developed across the forecast area during the afternoon.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.3600, -81.5800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 133197. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.