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Turquoise Beach, Florida

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1994. It stands in the Walton Beaches census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32459. It stands on Buck Bayou. The Survey maps it on the Choctaw Beach quadrangle.

Turquoise Beach within Walton County

Then and now

1935 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 59 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Turquoise Beach, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Turquoise Beach, surveyed 1935

Compare 1935 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

134 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 134 fires within 5 miles of Turquoise Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,853 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning24
Missing data/not specified/undetermined22
Railroad operations and maintenance19
Smoking15
Natural15
Equipment and vehicle use15
Misuse of fire by a minor11
Arson/incendiarism7
Fireworks3
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2003Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceMONKS LANE
7 September 1997Smokingunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
4 September 1995Railroad operations and maintenance5.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
23 September 1999Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
21 September 2000Equipment and vehicle use1.5 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
20 September 2015Debris and open burning40 acresFlorida Forest ServiceCRAWFISH ALLEY (66)
20 September 2000Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
17 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreFlorida Forest ServiceROBERT RD (66)

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Walton County

Storms near this place

8 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Turquoise Beach in 8 storm reports between 2014 and 2024: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2023Tornado (EF2)Turquoise Beach$250,000A tornado touched down in the Driftwood Estates subdivision of South Walton County between Riverbirch Loop and Cocobolo Drive. The tornado caused mainly roof damage as it crossed the subdivision. Homes suffered damage to roof coverings on Cocobolo Drive, and both ends of Pin Oak Loop. The tornado then apparently lifted briefly as it crossed a wooded area. A drone provided by South Walton Fire District could find no damage in the woods. The tornado then touched down on Red Bay Court where it snapped or damaged several small hardwood trees and did some minor roof damage. More substantial roof damage occurred to three homes on Loblolly Bay Drive and four homes on Driftwood Point Road. One sturdy palm tree was snapped at the intersection of Red Bay and Loblolly with four others partially uprooted on Driftwood Point Road. The tornado then lifted over Choctawhatchee Bay. Most of the roof damage in this community was consistent with EF-1 winds. However, three homes experienced the uplift and failure of large sections of the roof structures themselves. That is consistent with EF-2 damage with maximum winds of 115 mph. Damage cost was estimated.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindTurquoise Beach$3,000A tree was blown down onto some power lines and cables.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindTurquoise Beach-A tree was blown down near Carson Oaks Lane and Mack Bayou Road.
August 2023FloodTurquoise Beach-Minor flooding was reported along E Hewitt Road.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindTurquoise Beach-An Ambient weather station gusted to 67 mph.
September 2020Flash FloodTurquoise Beach-Driftwood Ct and Driftwood Point Road areas were flooded.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindTurquoise Beach-A tree was blown down on Driftwood Point Road.
April 2014Flash FloodTurquoise Beach-Significant flash flooding occurred for an unusually long period of time as very heavy rain moved repeatedly over the area. All of Highway 30A was closed due to high water and flooding in multiple locations.

Every storm recorded in Walton County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
The Village of Baytowne Wharf1.6 miles17
Grosh1.8 miles17
Sandestin2.2 miles17
Four Mile Village2.5 miles15
Gulf Pines2.8 miles15
Tang-O-Mar Beach3.0 miles15
Miramar Beach3.4 miles15
Seascape3.9 miles17

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 301670. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.