Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Jacksonville, FL

February 13, 1997Saint Johns County, Florida

NWS Jacksonville, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 13, 1997, 4:35 PM EST for Saint Johns County, Florida. It was in force for 55 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
Feb 13, 1997, 4:35 PM EST (21:35 UTC)
Expired
Feb 13, 1997, 5:30 PM EST
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Jacksonville, FL
Area
Whole counties

County Saint Johns County, FL

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:36 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 nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 183 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 1997-02-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 473 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 1997-02-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 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
473 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
635 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
158 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KJAX 132149 COR
TORJAX
FLC109-132230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
435 PM EST THU FEB 13 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM EST
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTH FLORIDA

   ...ST. JOHNS COUNTY

AND THE ADJOINING COASTAL WATERS.

AT 440 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR PALATKA IN PUTNAM COUNTY. THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT
25 MPH. THE STORM WILL MOVE JUST SOUTH OF HASTING BY 500 PM. THE STORM
WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST INTO THE CRESCENT BEACH AREA BY 515 PM.

AT 435 PM THIS STORM BLEW A ROOF OFF A BUILDING IN~ INTERLACHEN.

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

JOHNSON/SANTOS

&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 13, 3:59 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXPutnam61 min
Feb 13, 4:21 PM ESTTornado WarningJAXPutnam54 min
Feb 13, 5:23 PM ESTTornado WarningJAXSaint Johns37 min

Nearby

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