St. Lucie County, Florida severe weather history spans 248 recorded events between 1953 and 2026. The dominant hazard is hail, accounting for 34.3% of all recorded events. It ranks #2,118 nationally and #47 in Florida.
248
Recorded events
9
Direct deaths
32
Direct injuries
$609.6M
Property damage
The record
What the St. Lucie County, Florida severe weather history record shows
Across the archive, St. Lucie County, Florida severe weather history averages 3.4 recorded events a year. The busiest stretch on record is the 2000s, with 64 events logged in that decade alone. Roughly 32 events fall before 1990 and 216 from 1990 onward — a gap that reflects the expansion of NOAA reporting practice as much as the weather itself.
The deadliest hazard in the St. Lucie County, Florida record is tornado, responsible for 8 direct deaths. The costliest is tornado, with $502.1M in reported property damage. In total, 10 distinct hazard types appear in this county archive, each listed with its own dated record below.
By hazard type
Every hazard type recorded in St. Lucie County
| Hazard | Events | Deaths | Damage | Max | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 85 | 0 | $21K | 3 | 1957–2026 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 55 | 0 | $308K | 87 | 1975–2025 |
| Tornado | 53 | 8 | $502.1M | F3 | 1953–2024 |
| Funnel Cloud | 28 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–2024 |
| Flood | 10 | 0 | $67.1M | 0 | 1998–2022 |
| Lightning | 6 | 1 | $20K | 0 | 1997–2020 |
| Flash Flood | 5 | 0 | $30.0M | 0 | 2003–2024 |
| Heavy Rain | 3 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 2011–2020 |
| Waterspout | 2 | 0 | $0 | 0 | 1998–1999 |
| Wildfire | 1 | 0 | $10.0M | 0 | 1999–1999 |
Decade by decade
St. Lucie County, Florida severe weather history by decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
54 mapped tornado paths intersect this county: 50 touched down inside it and 4 crossed in from a neighbouring county. This comes from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
| Date | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Path length | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-09 | EF3 | 6 | 0 | 21.2 mi | Touched down here |
| 1954-09-18 | EF3 | 2 | 2 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1958-04-15 | EF3 | 0 | 20 | 14.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-10-09 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 65.5 mi | Crossed in |
| 1970-01-15 | EF2 | 0 | 2 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 1967-08-01 | EF2 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-10-09 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 11.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-10-09 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 11.4 mi | Touched down here |
| 2024-10-09 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 6.8 mi | Touched down here |
| 2016-05-17 | EF1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 mi | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest events on record in St. Lucie County
| Date | Type | Location | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2024 | Tornado | FT PIERCE NELSON ARP | 6 | 0 | $475.0M |
| Sep 18, 1954 | Tornado | 2 | 2 | $25K | |
| May 27, 2020 | Lightning | PORT ST LUCIE | 1 | 0 | $0 |
| Apr 15, 1958 | Tornado | 0 | 20 | $250K | |
| Jun 11, 1999 | Lightning | FT PIERCE | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| Jan 15, 1970 | Tornado | 0 | 2 | $3K | |
| Jul 11, 2013 | Lightning | MICCO | 0 | 1 | $0 |
| Sep 25, 2003 | Lightning | FT PIERCE | 0 | 1 | $0 |
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
St. Lucie County Emergency Management reported that a 41-year-old man was killed after being struck by lightning at an outdoor construction site in Tradition, near Port Saint Lucie. The man was struck by lightning at approximately 1450LST and was quickly discovered by his coworkers to be unconscious. A coworker called 911 and emergency services transported the injured man to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Prior to the direct impacts from approaching Hurricane Irma, rain bands streamed onshore from the Atlantic and produced between 6 and 11 inches of rain in less than 4 hours during the very early morning hours, affecting much of Ft. Pierce. A Weather Underground site measured 10.46 inches. Numerous roadways quickly flooded and became impassible, with nearly 4 feet of standing water in front of the Ft. Pierce Police Station on US Highway 1. Water breached several homes, including on El Rancho Drive and near 25th Street and Virginia Avenue. One family needed to be rescued from their flooded home due to rising water.
A NWS Storm Survey confirmed an EF-1 tornado impacted portions of St. Lucie County. Initial indications of minor residential impacts, in the form of missing shingles and soffit damage, appeared in the Crane Landing, Sawgrass Lakes, and Tulip Park subdivisions of Port St. Lucie. This, in addition to sporadic occurrences of tree damage, continued northward into communities adjacent to Florida's Turnpike, including but not limited to, Cashmere Cove, Bayshore Heights, Swan Park, and Northport Village. Damage noted here was consistent with 65 – 75 mph peak winds. ||The tornado crossed into Fort Pierce where it produced significant structural damage to a metal canopy system at the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. Here, peak winds were estimated at around 90 mph or EF-1 tornado intensity. The circulation appears to have weakened shortly thereafter and the tornado likely lifted as it approached the I-95 and Okeechobee interchange.
Context
Risk, population and federal disasters
Relatively High
FEMA NRI risk rating
360,500
Population (ACS)
$347K
Median home value
38
Federal declarations
| Declared | Incident | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 11, 2024 | Hurricane | HURRICANE MILTON | DR |
| Oct 7, 2024 | Hurricane | HURRICANE MILTON | EM |
| Dec 13, 2022 | Hurricane | HURRICANE NICOLE | DR |
| Nov 8, 2022 | Tropical Storm | TROPICAL STORM NICOLE | EM |
| Sep 29, 2022 | Hurricane | HURRICANE IAN | DR |
| Sep 24, 2022 | Hurricane | TROPICAL STORM IAN | EM |
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many severe weather events have been recorded in St. Lucie County, Florida?
248 events are on record between 1953 and 2026, causing 9 direct deaths and $609.6M in property damage.
What is the most common severe weather hazard in St. Lucie County?
Hail, with 85 recorded events — 34.3% of everything in the archive for this county.
How many tornadoes have crossed St. Lucie County?
54 mapped tornado paths intersect the county boundary; 50 of them touched down inside it. This is derived from path geometry, not county-tagged reports.
How many federal disaster declarations cover St. Lucie County?
38 federal disaster declarations from FEMA include St. Lucie County, each tied to a specific incident period.
How risky is St. Lucie County compared with the rest of the country?
FEMA's National Risk Index rates St. Lucie County as relatively high risk, placing it in the 96 percentile of its state for expected annual loss.
Where does the St. Lucie County, Florida severe weather history data come from?
Every figure is drawn from United States federal public-domain records: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events for the event archive, NOAA SPC SVRGIS for mapped tornado paths, FEMA for disaster declarations and risk ratings, and the U.S. Census for population context. Dates are shown in UTC and recent entries may still be revised by NOAA.
Nearby
Neighbouring counties
- St. Johns County 786
- Santa Rosa County 663
- Putnam County 656
- Sarasota County 385
- Polk County 881
- Seminole County 363
Cite this page
“St. Lucie County, Florida.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/florida/st-lucie-county/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.