Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Jacksonville, FL

May 27, 1997Columbia County, Florida

NWS Jacksonville, FL issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1997, 6:11 PM EDT for Columbia County, Florida. It was in force for 34 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 27, 1997, 6:11 PM EDT (22:11 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Jacksonville, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Columbia County, FL

The radar

The Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:12 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 27, 5:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 94 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: 1370 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -76 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 909 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 12 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KJAX 272211 RRA
TORJAX
FLC023-272245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
611 PM EDT TUE MAY 27 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM EDT
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH FLORIDA
 
   ...COLUMBIA COUNTY
 
COLUMBIA COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE HAS REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND AT
THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 240 AND 242 IN LAKE CITY. THIS STORM WILL
MOVE SOUTHEAST TOWARD LULU AND OLUSTEE CREEK THROUGH 645 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
 
 
&

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.

NWS Jacksonville, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 27, 5:50 PM EDT, 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 5:50 PM EDT, 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
550 PM EDT TUE MAY 27 1997

UPDATED ZONES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH THAT WILL BE IN EFFECT
UNTIL 9 PM AND TO RAISE POPS. SEVERE WX IN PROGRESS IN GOOD PART
OF CWA (INCLUDING WIND GUST TO 92 KTS AT NIP).

08

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Clay	56 min
May 27, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Putnam, Saint Johns	49 min
May 27, 4:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Columbia, Suwannee	67 min
May 27, 4:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Flagler	56 min
May 27, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Duval, Nassau	64 min
May 27, 5:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Hamilton	56 min
May 27, 5:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Alachua, Marion	53 min
May 27, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Clay	49 min
May 27, 5:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Columbia, Suwannee	59 min
May 27, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	JAX	Duval	39 min
May 27, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Saint Johns	42 min
May 27, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Baker, Bradford, Union	60 min
May 27, 6:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Alachua, Gilchrist	67 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.