Tropical Storm Fay (2008) in Jacksonville

Fay crossed South Florida, stalled off Cape Canaveral, then made its third Florida landfall near Flagler Beach on August 21, south of Jacksonville, and crawled west across the northern peninsula.

The National Hurricane Center report, built partly on data from the NWS office in Jacksonville, calls Fay a long-lived tropical storm that made eight landfalls, including a record four in Florida. It reached Key West at 2030 UTC on August 18, came ashore between Cape Romano and Everglades City at 0845 UTC on August 19, and peaked at 60 knots near the western end of Lake Okeechobee that afternoon. Steering currents then weakened, and Fay turned north and slowed to 3 to 4 knots as it skirted the coast near Cape Canaveral. When the ridge to its north built west across the Southeast, the storm turned west late on August 21 and made its third Florida landfall near Flagler Beach at about 1900 UTC.

The NOAA Weather Prediction Center summary tells the same story with one difference in dating: it says Fay struck Cape Romano on the 18th, while the Hurricane Center report times that landfall at 0845 UTC on August 19. Both agree that Fay moved back ashore near Flagler Beach on the 21st, moved slowly across the northern Florida peninsula, the part of the state that includes Jacksonville, and emerged into Apalachee Bay before a final landfall near Carrabelle. The NHC places that fourth Florida landfall just southwest of Carrabelle at about 0615 UTC on August 23.

A hurricane watch covered the Jacksonville coast from August 19 to 20, followed by a tropical storm warning that stayed up until August 22.

The Hurricane Center report lists each change. The hurricane watch from Flagler Beach to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, a stretch that takes in the Duval County coast and the mouth of the St. Johns River, went up at 2100 UTC on August 19 and was discontinued at 1500 UTC on August 20. The report notes that Fay was forecast to briefly reach hurricane status, which never materialized. A tropical storm warning ran up the coast from August 20 until it was discontinued north of Flagler Beach at 2100 UTC on August 22, as the center neared the Gulf.

Source: Table 6 of the National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Report on Fay. UTC is four hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time, so 2100 UTC on August 19 was 5 p.m. in Jacksonville.

Stations in the Jacksonville area reported gusts of 55 to 60 mph before dawn on August 22 and 45 to 55 mph by 8 a.m., as the center passed Gainesville.

The Hurricane Center's advisory 27, issued at 5 a.m. EDT on Friday, August 22, 2008, placed the center near Gainesville with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph and said several stations in the Jacksonville area had reported wind gusts of 55 to 60 mph during the past few hours. Three hours later the winds had eased only slightly. By 11 a.m., advisory 28 was headlined Fay still producing tropical storm force winds over northeast Florida, with the center about 40 miles northeast of Cedar Key and moving west near 5 mph.

The NHC's intermediate advisory 27A, issued at 8 a.m. EDT on Friday, August 22, 2008, placed Fay's center near latitude 29.6 north and longitude 82.4 west, just west of Gainesville, moving west near 6 mph with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph. It said several stations in the Jacksonville area had continued to report wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph during the past few hours, that tropical storm force winds extended up to 140 miles, mainly east of the center, and that storm surge flooding of 2 to 4 feet above normal tides was possible along the east coast of Florida and Georgia north of the center. A tropical storm warning was still in effect from Sebastian Inlet north to the Savannah River.

The final Hurricane Center report confirms that the surge forecast for the First Coast verified. Higher surge values of 2 to 4 feet were observed along the northeastern Florida coast, it says, because Fay's slow forward speed from August 20 to 22 created a prolonged onshore southeasterly flow from the Atlantic. Wind damage in Florida was confined mostly to downed trees and power lines and minor roof damage, and the report lists the NWS office in Jacksonville among those that supplied its data.

The St. Johns River at Jacksonville crested at 3.41 feet above mean higher high water on August 22, 2008, the gauge's fourth-highest crest on record.

NOAA's river gauge for the St. Johns River at Jacksonville lists that crest behind only an estimated 6.00 feet in 1846, 4.41 feet in 2017 and 3.49 feet in 1964, and just ahead of 3.38 feet in October 1944. The gauge sets major flooding at 3 feet, moderate at 2 feet and minor at 1.5 feet, so the August 22 crest sat above the major flood stage. That date matches the day the Hurricane Center report has Fay moving west across the northern peninsula during the August 20 to 22 stretch of onshore flow that the report describes along the northeast Florida coast.

Rain fell across the St. Johns River basin as well. The NHC report says rainfall amounts in excess of 10 inches were common across central and northern Florida, southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama, apart from the 20-plus inch totals in Brevard County, and it credits Fay with a beneficial 4-foot rise in Lake Okeechobee in less than a week.

Fay's strongest winds sat east of its center, so the Duval County coast and the Mayport jetties took onshore wind for days while the center stayed inland.

The 8 a.m. advisory on August 22 put tropical storm force winds up to 140 miles from the center, mainly to the east a wind field consistent with the tropical storm force gusts reported in the Jacksonville area that morning. NOAA's U.S. Coast Pilot for the Jacksonville area explains why that matters on the water: storm surge heights vary over short distances, with maximum heights along the beaches and the entrance jetties at Mayport, then a rapid decrease up the St. Johns River. That pattern fits the Hurricane Center's finding of 2 to 4 feet of surge along the northeastern Florida coast during Fay.

The Coast Pilot also puts Fay in its local context. It says the Jacksonville area is threatened by a tropical cyclone within 50 nautical miles once or twice a year on average, most likely from June through October with a peak in September and October, counts 69 tropical cyclones that have come within 50 miles of Jacksonville since 1842, 21 of them since 1950, and advises that the Captain of the Port Jacksonville zone should not be considered a safe hurricane haven, because most storms that reach the area have crossed some part of the Florida peninsula first and weakened, as Fay did after its Flagler Beach landfall.

The worst of Fay fell south of Duval County, where trained rain bands put more than 20 inches on Brevard County, while Jacksonville saw gusts, surge and a high river.

The Hurricane Center report counts 5 direct deaths in Florida, more than 15,000 homes flooded and more than 93,000 homes that lost electrical utilities statewide because of strong, gusty winds. Insured damage in Florida reached $195 million, and doubling insured losses gives an estimate of about $560 million in total U.S. damage. Fay produced 81 tornadoes in five states, 19 of them in Florida. FEMA's DR-1785-FL record lists an incident period of August 18 to September 12, 2008, with the major disaster declaration dated August 24, 2008, one day after Fay's last Florida landfall and two days after the peak St. Johns River crest at Jacksonville.

Sources: NHC Tropical Cyclone Report and FEMA DR-1785-FL.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the Hurricane Center's Fay report and its 8 a.m. August 22 advisory, the Weather Prediction Center's rainfall summary, NOAA's St. Johns River gauge at Jacksonville and FEMA's DR-1785 record.