A long term drought and above normal warm temperatures fueled wildfire growth.
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.
The episode as NWS JAX wrote it up.
A long term drought and above normal warm temperatures fueled wildfire growth.
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 Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 11, 1:35 PM EST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Jacksonville FL 235 PM EDT Tue Apr 11 2017 ...Mild temperatures and dry weather continue... .SHORT TERM...This afternoon through Friday night... Near seasonal low temperatures and dry weather will continue across the local forecast area. This afternoon... an upper level ridge across the eastern Gulf was de-amplifying as a short wave trough across TX/LA edged farther east. Cirrus from this system was streaming in tufts across SE GA and as this trough approaches through Wed high clouds will continue to stream over the area from the west. Surface high pressure remained anchored offshore of the Carolinas which continued local onshore flow and a dominant east coast sea breeze regime. High temperatures will be held in the mid 70s along the Atlantic coast and rise to near 80 along the I-75 corridor under partly to mostly sunny skies. A few light sprinkles will be possible under the more robust coastal clouds this afternoon and into the evening but measurable rainfall is not expected given such a dry mid level airmass. Tonight into Wed...Low level moisture will gradually increase over the next 24 hrs which will bring waves of stratocumulus clouds onshore. Significant fog formation is not expected tonight given passing clouds and increasing boundary layer winds as models indicated an inverted 850 mb trough axis along the local coastline edging inland late tonight through mid-morning Wed. The mid/upper level short wave trough upstream will cross the area Wed afternoon but with deep layer moisture displaced across south Florida, rainfall is not expected locally with this system. Cloud cover will be thicker however and onshore flow will strengthen with temperatures just a bit warmer tonight and a tad cooler Wed. Weakening mid to upper shortwave trough will move over the area Wednesday night. Lack of low level forcing and moisture will make it difficult for showers to develop, especially given that the moisture aloft will also be rather limited. Thus, we will keep mention of precip out of the forecast. Could still see a stray sprinkle with the shortwave but not really expecting any measurable precip. Weak frontal boundary will begin to washout just north of the area on Thursday but good model consensus in showing enough low level moisture pivoting in off the Atlantic on Friday to support a few showers moving northeast to southwest into parts of our area on Friday. We will cover this with just a 20% chance for now. Onshore flow will keep temps fairly seasonable with largest diurnal temperature curve expected at inland locations, and only small diurnal temperature curves along the coast. .LONG TERM /Saturday through Tuesday/... Onshore flow will persist through the period. Ridging will once again build across our region and temps will gradually warm through the weekend into early next week. Temperatures will become above normal across inland locations and no rain is expected over the weekend into early next week. && .AVIATION...Prevailing VFR conditions expected over the next 24 hrs with ceilings associated with clouds moving onshore generally above 4 kft. There is a low chance of brief MVFR cigs along the coast which could impact SSI, CRG and SGJ within the waves of stratocumulus as it moves inland...but probability too low at this time to include in TAFs. Signals not too strong for fog tonight with the passing clouds and increasing boundary layer winds creating less than ideal radiational cooling conditions. Winds will back to the NE Wed ahead of a weak trough approaching the SE FL Atlantic coast with speeds near 12-15 kts along the coast by Wed afternoon. && .MARINE...Onshore flow will continue through the end of the week with slightly elevated seas near exercise caution to potentially low-end advisory levels over the outer waters late Wed night through Sat given building ESE swells. Rip Currents: Moderate risk of rip currents due to persistent onshore flow. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AMG 53 80 55 82 / 0 0 0 0 SSI 61 74 62 76 / 0 0 0 0 JAX 56 78 57 78 / 0 0 0 10 SGJ 60 76 62 76 / 10 10 0 10 GNV 54 80 54 81 / 0 10 0 0 OCF 55 81 56 82 / 0 0 0 0 && .JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. GA...None. AM...None. && Enyedi/Shuler/
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Jacksonville FL 332 AM EDT Tue Apr 11 2017 AMZ450-452-454-470-472-474-FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-124-125- GAZ132>136-149>154-162>166-120800- Coastal waters from Altamaha Sound to Fernandina Beach FL out 20 NM- Coastal waters from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine FL out 20 NM- Coastal waters from St. Augustine to Flagler Beach FL out 20 NM- Waters from Altamaha Sound GA to Fernandina Beach FL from 20 to 60 NM- Waters from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine FL from 20 to 60 NM- Waters from St. Augustine to Flagler Beach FL from 20 to 60 NM- Hamilton-Suwannee-Columbia-Baker-Inland Nassau-Inland Duval-Union- Bradford-Clay-St. Johns-Gilchrist-Alachua-Putnam-Flagler-Marion- Coastal Nassau-Coastal Duval-Coffee-Jeff Davis-Bacon-Appling- Wayne-Atkinson-Ware-Pierce-Brantley-Inland Glynn-Coastal Glynn- Echols-Clinch-Charlton-Inland Camden-Coastal Camden- 332 AM EDT Tue Apr 11 2017 ...MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for Northeast Florida, Southeast Georgia and the Adjacent Coastal Waters. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight... Moderate risk of rip currents northeast Florida and southeast Georgia beaches. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday... An elevated risk of rip currents is expected through at least the weekend. A Small Craft Advisory may be needed offshore late in the week into the weekend due to seas. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A wildfire formed near Decoy Road in Clay county. The location along County Road 209 south and Decoy Road was near train tracks, and the source of the fire may have been from sparks from the train. The fire grew rapidly from 5 acres to 225 acres that afternoon. By the evening, fire crews had the fire 80% contained.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, April 2017
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: 692369.