Dense Fog in Florida, December 14, 2009

Name: Dense Fog in Florida, December 14, 2009
Start: 2009-12-14T02:00
End: 2009-12-14T08:00
Location: Florida

December 14, 2009 · NWS MLB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 4
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS MLB wrote it up.

Thick fog developed across a large part of east central Florida during the early morning hours and lasted until shortly after sunrise. The fog becomes especially dense near and west of the Interstate 4 corridor, resulting in a serious vehicle accident. The accident also produced significant structural damage to a bridge, resulting in the closure of multiple lanes of the Florida turnpike for several days.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 13, 8:32 PM EST, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 13, 8:32 PM EST, 5 hours 28 minutes before

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
832 PM EST SUN DEC 13 2009

.DISCUSSION...

...AREAS OF DENSE FOG EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AND EARLY MONDAY...
...ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY...

CURRENTLY: LTST OBSERVATIONS AROUND THE REGION SHOW AIRMASS BECOMING
QUICKLY SATURATED AS EXPECTED. LTST GUID FROM GFS MOS LEANING TOWARD
4 TO 6 HOURS OF SATURATION AT MANY FORECAST POINTS OVERNIGHT. HIGH
LEVEL CLOUDS ON SAT IMAGERY MAINLY CONFINED NORTH OF I-4 AND NO
SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE HIGHER CLOUDS IS EXPECTED FOR THE
REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT.

FORECASTING DEVELOPMENT OF DENSE FOG PREVALENT ENOUGH TO WARRANT AN
ADVISORY IN ADVANCE REMAINS A CHALLENGE. WL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOG
DEVELOPMENT THIS EVENING WITH POSSIBILITY OF TARGETED FOG ADVISORIES
OR STATEMENTS LATER THIS EVENING FOR AFFECTED AREAS.

...PREV DISC...

TONIGHT...CONDITIONS APPEAR TO BE COMING TOGETHER TO PRODUCE
WIDESPREAD FOG...SOME OF WHICH SHOULD BE DENSE...ESP ACROSS NORTH
AND INTERIOR SECTIONS (VOLUSIA/LAKE/SEMINOLE/ORANGE/OSCEOLA). LOW
LEVEL RIDGE AXIS ACROSS CENTRAL FL WILL PROMOTE VERY LIGHT TO CALM
WINDS...SKIES SHOULD BECOME MOSTLY CLEAR WITH SUNSET AS STRATOCU
DISSIPATES...AND DEWPOINTS WILL BE ABOVE NORMAL. MAY NEED A DENSE
FOG ADVISORY FOR A PORTION OF THE FA BUT WILL LET LATER SHIFTS
DETERMINE WHEN AND WHERE. THE ONE MITIGATING FACTOR FOR WIDESPREAD
DENSE FOG IS POTENTIAL FOR HIGH CLOUDS TO OVERSPREAD NORTH HALF
OVERNIGHT.

&&

.AVIATION...
LIFR CONDS POSSIBLE EARLY MONDAY WHICH MAY HAVE SIGNIFICANT
IMPACTS ON AIRPORT OPERATIONS. VFR THROUGH ABOUT 04Z THEN EXPECT
CIGS/VSBYS TO BEGIN DROPPING ESP NORTH INTERR. KLEE MAY BE THE
FIRST TO LOWER FOLLOWED BY SFB/DAB/MCO AFT 06Z. HAVE INDICATED
TEMPO LIFR CONDS AT ALL TERMINALS EXCEPT MLB/VRB A FEW HOURS PRIOR
TO SUNRISE...WITH GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT AFTER 13Z BUT THIS MAY BE
TOO OPTIMISTIC. EXPECT A PERIOD OF AT LEAST IFR CIGS/VSBYS AT
MLB/VRB.

&&

.MARINE...
SIG WAVE HEIGHT 5 FT AT THE SCRIPPS BUOY AND 7 FT AT 41012 THIS
EVENING JUSTIFY CONTINUANCE OF THE CAUTION OVER THE OUTER WATERS DUE
MAINLY TO SWELL COMPONENT.

...NOTE TO USERS OF BUOY DATA...
DATA HAS BEEN MISSING FROM 41113 SINCE 12/7. DATA STOPPED AT 41009
ON 12/12 AT 17Z. THE TIME FOR A RETURN OF DATA FROM THESE BUOYS IS
NOT KNOWN.

BASED ON SFC ANALYSIS...WINDS CONTINUE TO DECREASE OVER THE ATLC
WATERS. ALTHOUGH SEAS WILL BE SLOWER TO DIMINISH...THE PRIMARY
CONTRIBUTION TO WAVE HGT HAS BECOME MOSTLY AN EAST SWELL WHICH IS
NOT PARTICULARLY HAZARDOUS IN THE OFFSHORE WATERS. BUT WILL CONTINUE
A CAUTION HEADLINE OVER THE OUTER WATERS AS SEAS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE
7 TO 8 FEET. LIGHT WINDS EXPECTED MONDAY WITH RIDGE AXIS BISECTING
THE WATERS. SWELL WILL SUBSIDE TO 6 FT OFFSHORE.

&&

.CLIMATE...
RECORD HIGHS FOR DEC 14TH...

DAYTONA BEACH     85(1991)
ORLANDO           86(1992)
MELBOURNE         85(1961)
VERO BEACH        85(1991)

&&

.MLB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
FL...NONE.
AM...NONE.

&&

JP/MB

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 13, 10:38 PM EST, 3 hours 22 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1038 PM EST SUN DEC 13 2009

AMZ550-552-555-570-572-575-FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-
144-147-141100-
COASTAL WATERS FROM FLAGLER BEACH TO VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE
OUT 20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE TO SEBASTIAN
INLET OUT 20 NM-
COASTAL WATERS FROM SEBASTIAN INLET TO JUPITER INLET OUT 20 NM-
WATERS FROM FLAGLER BEACH TO VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE 20 TO
60 NM OFFSHORE-
WATERS FROM VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE TO SEBASTIAN INLET 20 TO
60 NM OFFSHORE-
WATERS FROM SEBASTIAN INLET TO JUPITER INLET 20 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE-
INLAND VOLUSIA-NORTHERN LAKE-ORANGE-SEMINOLE-SOUTHERN BREVARD-
OSCEOLA-INDIAN RIVER-OKEECHOBEE-ST. LUCIE-MARTIN-COASTAL VOLUSIA-
SOUTHERN LAKE-NORTHERN BREVARD-
1038 PM EST SUN DEC 13 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.

...DENSE FOG/SMOKE IMPACT...
NEAR CALM WINDS COMBINED WITH MOISTURE WILL PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT
OF WIDESPREAD FOG LATE TONIGHT. SOME LOCATIONS WILL LIKELY SEE
DENSE FOG DEVELOPING BY DAYBREAK WITH VISIBILITY REDUCTIONS LESS
THAN A QUARTER OF A MILE. MOTORISTS SHOULD REDUCE SPEED WHEN
ENCOUNTERING FOG AND USE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS. ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO
REACH YOUR DESTINATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.
THE RIP CURRENT RISK WILL REMAIN ELEVATED EARLY THIS WEEK. WINDS
AND SEAS WILL INCREASE WEDNESDAY BEHIND A COLD FRONT AND HAZARDOUS
BOATING CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

PENDERGRAST

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, Lake

When: December 14, 2:00 AM EST to 8:00 AM EST
Where: Lake forecast zone
Injuries: 0 direct, 4 indirect
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 28.762, -81.711 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense early morning fog contributed to a vehicle accident in Montverde within Lake County about 622 EST, according to Florida Highway Patrol officials. A man in a pickup truck drove through a stop sign and collided with a tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer caught on fire, jackknifed, and struck a bridge below the Florida Turnpike, causing substantial structural damage to the bridge. Both drivers were injured. In addition, a fire truck crashed on its way to the accident scene, resulting in two additional injuries. Damage to the bridge caused both northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike to be closed. One of the two northbound lanes was reopened two days later.

What these are

Dense Fog: Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Florida in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Florida, December 2009

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 200360.