Alert archive / Florida / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Tallahassee, FL

March 18, 1987Okaloosa County, Florida

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 18, 1987, 3:08 AM CST for Okaloosa County, Florida. It was in force for 67 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 18, 1987, 3:08 AM CST (09:08 UTC)
Expired
Mar 18, 1987, 4:15 AM CST
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Tallahassee, FL
Area
Whole counties

County Okaloosa County, FL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Apalachicola Mun, FL (KAQQ), launched 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 185 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Apalachicola Mun, FL at 00:00Z on 1987-03-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Apalachicola Mun, FL at 00:00Z on 1987-03-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -64 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1209 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KPNS 180908
SVRPNS
FLC033-113-091-181015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
308 AM CST WED MAR 18 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND 
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE 
FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

NORTHWEST FLORIDA...SOUTHERN ESCAMBIA...SOUTHERN SANTA ROSA AND 
 OKALOOSA
...THIS WARNING ALSO INCLUDES THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS FOR THE
COUNTIES JUST MENTIONED

AT 300 AM CST RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OFFSHORE JUST
SOUTHWEST OF PENSACOLA. THE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST
AT 40 MPH AND WILL LIKELY MOVE ASHORE IN THE VICINITY OF PENSACOLA
BEACH. THIS IS APPARENTLY A LARGE STORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY
STONG...DAMAGING WINDS. THE PRESENCE OF A WATERSPOUT IS A STRONG
POSSIBILITY.

THIS STORM IS ACCOMPANIED BY INTENSE LIGHTNING AND STRONG GUSTY
 WINDS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 18, 2:55 AM CST, 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE APALACHICOLA FL
348 AM EST WED MAR 18 1987

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 AM EST THIS MORNING FOR
A LARGE PART OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND PART OF EXTREME SOUTH
ALABAMA. THIS INCLUDES GULF AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES AND ADJACENT
COASTAL WATERS.

AT 333 AM EST APALACHICOLA RADAR SHOWED WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM 25 MILES NORTH OF MOBILE ALABAMA THROUGH
75 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PENSACOLA FLORIDA.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE PART OF A LARGE AREA OF RAIN AND ISOLATED
SHOWERS THAT COVERED MOST OF SOUTH ALABAMA AND THE WEST THIRD OF
THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tallahassee, FL issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 18, 3:08 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAEEscambia, Santa Rosa67 min
Mar 18, 4:16 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAEOkaloosa, Walton55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Florida, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.