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.
Then and now
1935 to 1994The 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.


Compare 1935 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1935 USGS Villa Tasso quadrangle1:48000
- 1938 USGS Villa Tasso quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Villa Tasso quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Pensacola quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Pensacola quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Pensacola quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Choctaw Beach quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Fort Walton Beach quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1994 USGS Choctaw Beach quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
134 since 1992Regional 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 burning | 24 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 19 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Natural | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 11 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Fireworks | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | MONKS LANE |
| 7 September 1997 | Smoking | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 4 September 1995 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 5.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 23 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 21 September 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.5 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 20 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | 40 acres | Florida Forest Service | CRAWFISH ALLEY (66) |
| 20 September 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | not named |
| 17 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Florida Forest Service | ROBERT RD (66) |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
8 since 2014Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Tornado (EF2) | Turquoise Beach | $250,000 | A 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 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Turquoise Beach | $3,000 | A tree was blown down onto some power lines and cables. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Turquoise Beach | - | A tree was blown down near Carson Oaks Lane and Mack Bayou Road. |
| August 2023 | Flood | Turquoise Beach | - | Minor flooding was reported along E Hewitt Road. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Turquoise Beach | - | An Ambient weather station gusted to 67 mph. |
| September 2020 | Flash Flood | Turquoise Beach | - | Driftwood Ct and Driftwood Point Road areas were flooded. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Turquoise Beach | - | A tree was blown down on Driftwood Point Road. |
| April 2014 | Flash Flood | Turquoise 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. |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Village of Baytowne Wharf | 1.6 miles | 17 | |
| Grosh | 1.8 miles | 17 | |
| Sandestin | 2.2 miles | 17 | |
| Four Mile Village | 2.5 miles | 15 | |
| Gulf Pines | 2.8 miles | 15 | |
| Tang-O-Mar Beach | 3.0 miles | 15 | |
| Miramar Beach | 3.4 miles | 15 | |
| Seascape | 3.9 miles | 17 |
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.








