ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The National Weather Service has confirmed an EF0 tornado touched down in St. Johns County Wednesday afternoon.
According to the NWS, an agency storm survey discovered damage due to an EF0 tornado with a maximum width of 125 yards that briefly touched down in the Beacon Lake neighborhood in northern St. Johns County near U.S. Highway 1. The wind speeds led to a placement on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
"The tornado caused damage to roofs, fences, and patio furniture with winds up to 70 to 80 mph at its peak along a path measuring one quarter of a mile," the survey said.
NWS in Jacksonville surveyed storm damage for a possible tornado in Beacon Lake Thursday after First Coast News' Lauren Rautenkranz showed the organization new videos from Wednesday's severe weather on the First Coast.
She and their storm survey meteorologist were working with neighbors in the Beacon Lake community to pinpoint the damage to determine whether or not this could have been more than straight-line wind gusts.
Originally at 4 a.m. Thursday, NWS Jax told First Coast News there wasn't enough "significant" damage reported on Wednesday aside from downed trees and broken fences that required a post-storm survey.
The three videos below are what was shown to the NWS:
Damage in Beacon Lake photos:
A Tornado Watch was in effect for several counties across the First Coast until 5 p.m. Wednesday during this severe weather outbreak. And although the videos show what could be a tornado, the NWS in Jacksonville has yet to confirm that and believed late Wednesday the damage reports were from a severe warned cell with straight-line wind gusts.
A slew of afternoon activities for schools in Duval and Clay counties were also suspended on Wednesday due to the weather.