Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Tallahassee, FL

October 26, 1997Washington County, Florida

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Oct 26, 1997, 7:30 AM CST for Washington County, Florida. It was in force for 30 min. 2 reports 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 26, 1997, 7:30 AM CST (13:30 UTC)
Expired: Oct 26, 1997, 8:00 AM CST
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Washington County, FL

The radar

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:31 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 26, 7:30 AM CST	Tornado F1	Greenhead, FL	An F1 tornado touched down five miles southeast of Vernon near Greenhead on Highway 279. Three barns, a pickup truck and a doublewide trailer were destroyed. Two homes sustained roof damage. Numerous trees were uprooted.
Oct 26, 8:00 AM CST	Tornado F1	Vernon, FL	Two F1 tornados reported along Highway 277 near Vernon. Several homes suffered considerable roof damage. A mobile home was damaged between Vernon and Wausau on Highway 79.

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 26, 6:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 133 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: 1593 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 494 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 154 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 8.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTLH 261328 RRA
TORTLH
FLC133-261400-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
830 AM EST (730 AM CST) SUN OCT 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 AM EST (800 AM CST)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST FLORIDA
 
   ...WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 727 AM CST WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR THE
TOWN OF PLEASANT HILL MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
 
 
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 COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS. A MOBILE HOME IS NOT A
SAFE REFUGE FRObM A TORNADO. MOVE TO A MORE SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 26, 5:33 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jackson	2 hr
Oct 26, 7:18 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Bay, Walton	12 min
Oct 26, 8:05 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Washington	25 min
Oct 26, 8:33 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jackson	62 min
Oct 26, 9:10 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Bay	50 min
Oct 26, 9:20 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Holmes	40 min
Oct 26, 9:36 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jackson	39 min
Oct 26, 10:05 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Bay	40 min
Oct 26, 10:36 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jackson	54 min
Oct 26, 10:48 AM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Calhoun	42 min
Oct 26, 5:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	TAE	Wakulla	49 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.