Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 8, NWS Tallahassee, FL
NWS Tallahassee, FL issued this tornado warning at Oct 24, 1997, 2:38 PM EDT for Gadsden County, Leon County, Florida. It was in force for 47 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 24, 1997, 2:38 PM EDT (18:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 24, 1997, 3:25 PM EDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tallahassee, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Gadsden County, FL, Leon County, FL
The radar
The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:41 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 24, 2:40 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Midway, FL | Four F1 tornado touchdowns. Numerous 12-24" diameter trees uprooted on Gadsden County Road 159. Considerable debris on Florida Highway 27 five miles NE of Midway. Power outages in Midway. |
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 24, 10:15 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
| Oct 24, 2:15 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 19 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
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -294 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 628 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 433 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 489 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTLH 241834 TORTLH FLC039-073-241925- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL 238 PM EDT FRI OCT 24 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TALLAHASSEE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 325 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHERN FLORIDA ...EASTERN GADSDEN COUNTY ...NORTHERN LEON COUNTY AT 237 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY TALLAHASSEE DOPPLER RADAR MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... TALLAHASSEE BY 237 PM EDT HAVANA BY 245 PM EDT IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...P 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, 6:12 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Walton | 33 min |
| Oct 24, 11:19 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Bay | 46 min |
| Oct 24, 12:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Bay | 32 min |
| Oct 24, 12:36 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Calhoun | 64 min |
| Oct 24, 2:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TAE | Gadsden | 47 min |
| Oct 24, 3:13 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Leon, Wakulla | 47 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.