Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 31, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Oct 31, 1997, 4:08 PM EST for Osceola County, Florida. It was in force for 57 min. 1 report 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 31, 1997, 4:08 PM EST (21:08 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 31, 1997, 5:05 PM EST
- In force
- 57 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Osceola County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:11 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 | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 4:25 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind | St Cloud, FL | Thunderstorm winds blew down a few trees in St. Cloud. Some trees fell on a house. |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 1:45 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 78 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 770 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 736 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 98 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 2.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMLB 312108 RRA TORMLB FLC097-312205- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 408 PM EST FRI OCT 31 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 505 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...OSCEOLA COUNTY AT 405 PM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR AT MELBOURNE INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTH OF ST. CLOUD. THIS THUNDERSTORM CELL WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH AND AFFECT AREAS FROM NEAR ALLIGATOR LAKE TO PINE GROVE AND HIGHWAY 532. THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED TORNADO DAMAGE ACROSS POLK COUNTY EARLIER TODAY. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY! &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Melbourne, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 31, 3:34 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Osceola | 41 min |
| Oct 31, 4:47 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Seminole | 43 min |
| Oct 31, 5:14 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 61 min |
| Oct 31, 5:15 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 55 min |
| Oct 31, 5:21 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Orange, Osceola | 64 min |
| Oct 31, 5:21 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Seminole | 64 min |
| Oct 31, 5:25 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Seminole | 60 min |
| Oct 31, 5:46 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 64 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.