EF0 tornado in Sarasota County, Florida

A social media video showed a waterspout briefly making landfall as a tornado near Lido Key.

Hurricane Michael developed as a tropical depression in the western Caribbean on October 7th and strengthened into a major hurricane as it moved north through the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall near Mexico Beach on October 10th. Across west central and southwest Florida, Hurricane Michael caused isolated spots of tropical storm force winds on the 9th and 10th, as well as some minor storm surge along the coast. The peak wind report in west central and southwest Florida was 46 knots at the NOS station in Cedar Key on the afternoon of the 10th. Storm total rainfall was less than 2 inches across the area. At least 4 waterspouts developed in the outer rain bands, one of which made landfall as a brief tornado in Sarasota County. The total damage cost across west central and southwest Florida was estimated to be around $100,000, mostly from storm surge.

In Levy County, the maximum storm surge at Cedar Key was measured to be 4.52 feet MHHW at 10:36 am EDT on the 10th. This surge on top of the normal tide cycle resulted in a maximum water level of 4.09 feet MHHW at 3:54 pm EDT. The surge resulted in several road closures across the county. Water entered 2 homes and 2 businesses in Cedar Key, and 4 homes in Yankeetown, causing minimal damage to each. The damage amount was roughly estimated at $10,000 per structure impacted.

In Citrus County, the maximum storm surge was estimated to be around 4 feet MHHW during the afternoon of the 10th. This surge resulted in several road closures, and caused a car parked at a boat ramp for Fort Island Beach to be washed into the bay by the rising water.