Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Miami, FL

May 12, 1997Broward County, Florida

NWS Miami, FL issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1997, 2:15 PM EDT for Broward County, Florida. It was in force for 60 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 12, 1997, 2:15 PM EDT (18:15 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 1997, 3:15 PM EDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Miami, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Broward County, FL

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:18 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 12, 12:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Miami, FL (KMFL), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 40 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: 913 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 733 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMIA 121816 RRA
TORMIA
FLC011-121915-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
215 PM EDT MON MAY 12 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
 
   ...EASTERN BROWARD COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
AT 210 PM...MIAMI DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN CENTRAL
BROWARD COUNTY. THIS STORM WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH INTO EASTERN
BROWARD COUNTY BETWEEN TAMARAC AND CORAL SPRINGS DURING THE NEXT HOUR.
 
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.
 
IN SCHOOL...FOLLOW TORNADO PLANS OR MOVE TO AN INTERIOR4 HALLWAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS. IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE...DO NOT REMAIN IN THE CAFETERIA...
GYMNASIUM OR PORTABLE CLASSROOM BUT SEEK SHELTER ELSEWHERE IN THE SCHOOL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 12:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MFL	Collier, Hendry	60 min
May 12, 1:55 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MFL	Miami-Dade	65 min
May 12, 3:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Broward	55 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.