Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Tallahassee, FL

October 24, 1997Bay County, Florida

NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Oct 24, 1997, 11:18 AM CDT for Bay County, Florida. It was in force for 32 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: Oct 24, 1997, 11:18 AM CDT (16:18 UTC)
Expired: Oct 24, 1997, 11:50 AM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Tallahassee, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Bay County, FL

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 24, 9:15 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 1564 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 658 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 299 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 550 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 5.0
Supercell composite: 18.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTLH 241615 RRA
TORTLH
FLC005-FLZ506-241650-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
1218 PM EDT FRI OCT 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE FL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1150 AM CDT (1250 PM EDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN FLORIDA

   ...BAY COUNTY
 
AT 1116 AM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY TALLAHASSEE
DOPPLER RADAR MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.  THIS STORM WILL MOVE
ACROSS THE CALLAWAY AREA DURING THE NEXT 30 MINUTES.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY STURDY
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT... SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT...
DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. BEWARE
THE THREAT OF RISING WATER.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 24, 5:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Walton	33 min
Oct 24, 10:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Bay	46 min
Oct 24, 11:36 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Calhoun	64 min
Oct 24, 1:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Gadsden	47 min
Oct 24, 1:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Gadsden, Leon	47 min
Oct 24, 2:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Leon, Wakulla	47 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.