Squall line brings hail, 77 mph winds to Treasure Coast Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers
Wind gusting at speeds greater than 75 mph and quarter-sized hail were reported Sunday from Jensen Beach to Hobe Sound as rains fell, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm, however, moved fairly quickly through the area, according to Robert Haley, forecaster with the NWS in Melbourne.
“That s usually how it goes with these squall line-type events,” Haley said Sunday afternoon. “You ve got a really strong line of thunderstorms that can produce damaging winds, hail, drop a lot of rain real quick and they pass through relatively quickly.”
Wind gusting at speeds greater than 75 mph and quarter-sized hail were reported Sunday from Jensen Beach to Hobe Sound as rains fell, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm, however, moved fairly quickly through the area, according to Robert Haley, forecaster with the NWS in Melbourne.
“That s usually how it goes with these squall line-type events,” Haley said Sunday afternoon. “You ve got a really strong line of thunderstorms that can produce damaging winds, hail, drop a lot of rain real quick and they pass through relatively quickly.”
Haley said wind gusts reached 77 mph in Jensen Beach, with 63 mph recorded at the Treasure Coast International Airport and Business Park in St. Lucie County and 52 mph in Vero Beach, which recorded 0.75 inch of rain.
Treasure Coast Newspapers
ST. LUCIE COUNTY Frank Webster said the Tuesday morning flight out of Treasure Coast International Airport and Business Park in his single-engine plane was supposed to be a leisurely one.
Webster, 77, said he tries to pilot the fixed wing 2007 Jabiru aircraft an hour a week.
“I was out there, just having a good time,” Webster said Thursday. “I wasn t working on any maneuvers or anything, and all of a sudden the engine started running a little rough.”
It wouldn’t be long before the plane would be in a canal north of Florida’s Turnpike and east of Minute Maid Road, and Webster would be making his way out of chest-deep water.