Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

October 7, 1996Hillsborough County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Oct 7, 1996, 2:37 PM EDT for Hillsborough County, Florida. It was in force for 38 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Oct 7, 1996, 2:37 PM EDT (18:37 UTC)
Expired: Oct 7, 1996, 3:15 PM EDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Hillsborough County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 23 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:40 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Oct 7, 2:45 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Plant City, FL
Oct 7, 3:00 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Tampa, FL
Oct 7, 3:04 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Plant City, FL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 23 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 304 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 189 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTBW 071838
TORTBW
FLC057-071915-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL
237 PM EDT MON OCT 7 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA
 
   ...HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
 
A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY RADAR NEAR LITHIA IN EASTERN
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE NORTH NORTHEAST
AT 35 MPH. THIS TORNADO WILL BE APPROACHING THE PLANT CITY AREA BY
245 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO MOVE TO A REINFORCED SHELTER
OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS.
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET
INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN REQUESTS THAT SKYWARN
UNITS IN THE COUNTY BE ACTIVATED AND FORWARDt ALL SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER REPORTS TO OUR OFFICE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 7, 9:40 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Sarasota	50 min
Oct 7, 11:40 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Hardee	50 min
Oct 7, 12:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	40 min
Oct 7, 1:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	45 min
Oct 7, 1:02 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	43 min
Oct 7, 1:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Pasco	45 min
Oct 7, 1:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hernando	30 min
Oct 7, 2:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pasco	47 min
Oct 7, 3:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	50 min
Oct 7, 3:41 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Citrus	49 min
Oct 7, 4:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, Sarasota	40 min
Oct 7, 5:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Lee	44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.