Severe weather hammered the First Coast Thu. A strong upper level disturbance combined with upper level winds spreading out (divergence) more than made up for a lack of much surface heating. The result was 2 classic super cell thunderstorms -- the kind of which we don't see very often in this area. It seems probable that a tornado developed in Charlton Co. near St. George & moved east into Nassau Co. near Callahan. There was a strong tornado signature on First Alert Doppler HD in this area & a tornado warning was in effect. (I did not have time to capture an image of the tornado on radar since we were "wall to wall", but I'm hoping & thinking our N.W.S. will post their radar images as part of their storm report) The 2nd & even more impressive super cell -- with a long-lived tornado signature -- started in Union Co. east of Raiford & moved just about due east across Bradford, Clay & St. Augustine Co. At one point, trained spotters were tracking the tornado through Bradford & Clay Co. + spotters saw a funnel cloud just north of St. Augustine as the storm raced into the Atlantic. Damage is reported as widespread & considerable with this cell, the worst of it near Starke in Eastern Bradford Co. There were a number of other damaging wind reports as well as large hail.
The Jax N.W.S. will conduct storm surveys Fri. & make a final determination on what caused the damage -- tornado vs. microburst vs. straight line winds, etc.
Photos below in the order you see them:(1) flooding in St. Augustine
(2) Chris Sanders - flooded yard in Melrose, FL
(3-5) Leslie Coursey, Action News - wind, possible tornado damage near Starke in Bradford Co., Fl.
(6) Chauncey Glover, Action News Reporter - Electric crews fixing lines near Penney Farms in Clay Co.
(7) St. Augustine Beach roll cloud on leading edge of storms
(8) Levi Steele - Anastasia Island near St. Augustine
(9) Middleburg flooding
(10) Roll cloud moving over the St. Johns River, E. Palatka in Putnam Co.
(11) Cathi Carson, Action News Reporter - Nassau Co. near Callahan - semis tipped over.
(12) Cole North - N. St. Augustine - hail!
(13) RL Hall - South of Green Cove Springs, FL in Clay Co. along Highway 17
(14) Ilyssa Trussel, Action News Reporter - Putnam Co. -- approaching gust front/roll cloud north of Palatka
(15) Cathi Carson - I-95 downpour
