Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Miami, FL

May 4, 1997Miami-Dade County, Florida

NWS Miami, FL issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1997, 4:21 PM EDT for Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was in force for 54 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 4, 1997, 4:21 PM EDT (20:21 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 1997, 5:15 PM EDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Miami, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Miami-Dade County, FL

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:25 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

Miami, FL (KMFL), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 31 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: 1620 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 689 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMIA 042023 RRA
TORMIA
FLC025-042115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
421 PM EDT SUN MAY 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN DADE COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
AT 418 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHEAST DADE
COUNTY IN THE VICINITY OF MIAMI SHORES. THE STORM IS MOVING SOUTH AT 15
MPH AND WILL AFFECT MIAMI SHORES...NORTHEAST MIAMI...AND ADJACENT
BISCAYNE BAY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM!!!
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS UNDER
STURDY FURNITURE IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE
PILLOWS TO PROTECT YOUR HEAD. AVOID WINDOWS. A MOBILE HOME IS NOT A
SAFE REFUGE FROM A TORNADO. MOVE TO A MORE SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING. DO
NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR VECHICLE.
 
WATCH FOR SIGNS OF DEVELOPING SEVERE STORMS.  HAILSTONES AND
UNUSUALLY LOW SWIRLING CLOUDS ARE OFTEN SEEN NEAR DEVELOPING
TORNADOES.  STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES OFTEN PRODUCE
A LOUD ROARING SOUND LIKE A TRAIN.  FREQUENT LIGHTNING OCCURS
NEAR THE MOSTb SEVERE PART OF THE THUNDERSTORM.
 
IF THREATENING WEATHER IS SIGHTED...TAKE SHELTER...THEN REPORT THE
SEVERE WEATHER TO YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 3:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Miami-Dade	46 min
May 4, 6:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Collier, Miami-Dade	41 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.