Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Melbourne, FL

April 23, 1997Orange County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 23, 1997, 11:44 AM EDT for Orange County, Florida. It was in force for 61 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: Apr 23, 1997, 11:44 AM EDT (15:44 UTC)
Expired: Apr 23, 1997, 12:45 PM EDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Melbourne, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Orange County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:47 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
Apr 23, 8:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 2247 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 190 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 250 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 9.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

141 
WFUS01 KMLB 231544 RRA
TORMLB
FLC095-231645-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1144 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

   ...ORANGE COUNTY
 
AT 1144 AM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR AT MELBOURNE INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPING VERY NEAR EPCOT AND MGM STUDIOS. THIS
SEVERE STORM WILL MOVE EAST-NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH AND AFFECT AREAS
FROM DISNEY TO THE ORLANDO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AND THEN INTO
EASTERN ORANGE COUNTY THROUGH 1215 PM. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS
ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR ORANGE COUNTY. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WILL LITTLE ADVANCE WARNING.
THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED TO A TORANDO
WARNING SHORTLY. SEEK SHELTER NOW

SPRATT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 23, 8:40 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Volusia	45 min
Apr 23, 9:22 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Volusia	33 min
Apr 23, 9:43 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Volusia	62 min
Apr 23, 9:56 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Lake	94 min
Apr 23, 10:10 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Volusia	45 min
Apr 23, 10:17 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Lake, Orange	63 min
Apr 23, 10:29 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Volusia	66 min
Apr 23, 10:38 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Seminole	57 min
Apr 23, 11:10 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard	60 min
Apr 23, 11:22 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Orange, Seminole	28 min
Apr 23, 11:52 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Osceola	63 min
Apr 23, 12:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard	58 min
Apr 23, 12:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Indian River, Osceola	64 min
Apr 23, 1:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	MLB	Indian River	50 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.