Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Miami, FL

May 16, 1988Monroe County, Florida

NWS Miami, FL issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1988, 5:20 PM EDT for Monroe County, Florida. It was in force for 40 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 1988, 5:20 PM EDT (21:20 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1988, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
40 min
Issued by
NWS Miami, FL
Area
Whole counties

County Monroe 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

Key West, FL (KEYW), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 137 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, Key West, FL at 12:00Z on 1988-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 656 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Key West, FL at 12:00Z on 1988-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 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
656 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
618 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
82 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, May 16, 4:58 PM EDT, 22 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
458 PM EDT MON MAY 16 1988

AT 448 PM A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY RADAR IN SOUTHERN
DADE COUNTY NEAR KROME AVE AND EUREKA DRIVE OR ABOUT 5 MILES TO
THE SOUTHWEST OF THE METROZOO. THIS THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST
ABOUT 15 MPH AND WILL MOVE ACROSS THE KENDALL AREA AROUND 515 PM
AND THE CORAL GABLES AREA BY ABOUT 530 PM. THIS STORM WILL BE
ACCOMPANIED BY WIND GUSTS TO 40 ,MPH AND HEAVY RAIN AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING. RESIDENTS IN SOUTH DADE ARE ENCOURAGED TO REMAIN INSIDE
UNTIL THIS STORM PASSES.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 5:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMFLMonroe65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes in 1988

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.