A possible tornado was spotted by a National Weather Service meteorologist Sunday afternoon in north Jacksonville.
The sighting in the Oceanway area prompted a tornado warning for central Nassau County and northeastern Duval County just before 2 p.m. It came after a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located in the area near Jacksonville International Airport moving northeast at 5 mph. The tornado warning began at 1:50 p.m. and expired just after 2:30 p.m.
The tornado was spotted by the NWS employee at 1:44 p.m. near I-295 and I-95. The employee did not see the base but suspected it touched the ground, NWS said.
A News4JAX viewer sent us a photo that appeared to show a funnel could in the area.
There was reports of storm damage in the area —a railroad crossing was torn off — but it’s unclear if it was damaged by the possible tornado.
Severe storms ended around the area around 4 p.m. after several reports of hail and high winds.
The airport received more than 2 inches of rain in about an hour as storms rolled through.
Look for a 40% chance of rain lasting into the early evening with a slow clearing in eastern areas followed by a focus of rain toward I-75 by sunset.
Don’t forget to watch the total lunar eclipse tonight. The rain will be over when the eclipse starts just after 9:30 and reaches totality just after midnight under partly cloudy to mostly clear skies.
Tomorrow kicks off a hot work week ahead with each day in the 90s. It actually gets even hotter by the end of the week with a run into the mid 90s. There will be a small chance for afternoon storms each day but no soaking patterns are eminent.