Almost as epic as Tuesday’s 11.22 inches of rain in Vero Beach was the nearly simultaneous outbreak of three tornadoes in the Treasure Coast’s northern half.
Typically, if there were three tornadoes in one day, they would be widespread across the state.
“To have all three occur in that small area (on the Treasure Coast) is quite unusual,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Spratt, who helped survey Tuesday’s tornado damage.
They all developed from turbulent storm cells from a fast developing weather front that went far beyond initial predictions. Vero Beach received a historic all-time daily rainfall of 11.22 inches over a period of hours, starting around 1 p.m. Fort Pierce received 9.85 inches.
Stuart’s 2.10 inches were in line with what usually falls from afternoon thunderstorms.
THE MOVEMENT
At 2:48 p.m., the first of three tornadoes developed along a 6-mile north-to-south line from southern Indian River to northern St. Lucie counties.
Collectively, they were on the ground for 1.2 miles, spinning a broader path of damage that struck 33 homes and four recreational vehicles, according to a National Weather Service tornado survey team that visited the areas Wednesday.
No one was harmed by the relatively low-intensity tornadoes. The rapidly circulating winds, between 80 and 90 mph, ripped off shingles, downed fences and uprooted some trees as startled residents watched.
First hit was a neighborhood in the expansive Vero Highlands residential area. It affected a four-block area.
Three minutes later, a second tornado hit a mile south, in the Lakewood Park community at the Indian River-St. Lucie County line.
Twenty-five minutes after that, the final one hit at 3:15 p.m. 5 miles farther south in a recreational vehicle park, the Road Runner Travel Resort, west of the Treasure Coast International Airport and Business Park.
All three, while on the ground, moved south, reports show.
TORNADO HISTORY
The two counties’ tornado history is typical of what happens in Florida: tornadoes are singular and happen a year or two apart. The last one was Aug. 27, 2012, west of Vero Beach. Prior to that there was a tornado Oct. 18, 2011, south of Vero Beach.
According to Spratt, what was different this time was an extraordinary combination of atmospheric circumstances.
On Tuesday, a large influx of tropical moisture moved in from the south, combining with sea breezes, winds from the west, and an upper atmospheric disturbance that also came in from the west.
Out of that came a number of storm cells, he said.
“Many cells developed and merged together during the event, so it is not as clear-cut as usual (as to which cells the tornadoes came from),” Spratt said. “We do know that the Lakewood Park and the Road Runner Travel Park tornadoes developed from different cells. We are still assessing whether the Vero Beach Highlands and Lakewood Park tornadoes developed from the same or different cells.”
Residents were warned as the storms developed.
National Weather Service tornado warnings were issued seven minutes before the Vero Highland touchdown, he said. Lakewood Park got a warning about 12 minutes ahead of the hit. The travel resort had a 13-minute warning. All largely came through cellphones.
Most major cellphone carriers now send out tornado alerts, Spratt said.
“Everyone we talked to while surveying damage on Wednesday said they received a tornado warning on their cellphone,” he said.
By Elliott Jones of TCPalm
Picture – Debris from a destroyed shed in the Lakewood Park community is scattered across the lawn Wednesday as community residents pick the pieces from torrential rain and high winds from Tuesday’s storm. National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in St. Lucie County and one tornado touched down in South Indian River County during Tuesday’s storms. (PATRICK DOVE/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)
