Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 14

January 9, 199711 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 9, 1997, 4:00 PM EST for 11 counties in Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 9, 1997, 4:00 PM EST (21:00 UTC)
Expired: Jan 9, 1997, 10:00 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Charlotte County, FL, DeSoto County, FL, Glades County, FL, Hardee County, FL, Highlands County, FL, Lee County, FL, Manatee County, FL, Okeechobee County, FL, Osceola County, FL, Polk County, FL, Sarasota County, FL

Warnings issued inside it

2 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 9, 4:16 PM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Sarasota	44 min
Jan 9, 4:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Manatee	41 min

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -185 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 879 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

607 
WWUS9 KMKC 092050
SEL4  
MKC WW 092050
FLZ000-100300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 14
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO
350 PM EST THU JAN 9 1997

A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR

   PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL FLORIDA                           
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 1000 PM EST.

TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FORT MEYERS FLORIDA TO 35
MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF MELBOURNE FLORIDA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
$$

C...TORNADOES AND A FEW SVR TSTMS WITH HAIL SFC AND ALF TO 1
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 450.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 24045.

D...THUNDERSTORMS INTENSIFYING AHEAD OF APPROACHING COLD FRONT IN
REGION OF 60 KT MID LEVEL FLOW. AREA CAPES NEAR 1000 J/KG WITH LOW
LEVEL WARM ADVECTION INDICATING FURTHER INSTABILITY.


E...OTR TSTMS...  

...ROGASH

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 10:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 10 more	6 hr
Jan 9, 4:00 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie and 16 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.