Alert archive / Florida / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

April 23, 1997Pinellas County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 23, 1997, 12:04 PM EDT for Pinellas County, Florida. It was in force for 56 min. 4 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: Apr 23, 1997, 12:04 PM EDT (16:04 UTC)
Expired: Apr 23, 1997, 1:00 PM EDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Pinellas County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:08 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
Apr 23, 12:13 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	St Petersburg, FL	Thunderstorm winds of 60 to 70 mph caused wind blown debris to shatter the windows of twelve vehicles at St Petersburg Beach.
Apr 23, 12:19 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Pinellas Park, FL	Golfball sized hail was reported on 9th Avenue N. in Pinellas Park while dime sized hail was reported in Clearwater.
Apr 23, 12:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	St Petersburg, FL	Thunderstorm winds removed the overhang portion of a roof from a commercial bank.
Apr 23, 12:50 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	St Petersburg, FL	A Skywarn Spotter reported golfball sized hail on 9th Avenue in St Petersburg.

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
Apr 23, 8:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr
Apr 23, 11:45 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 40 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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 23, 9:52 AM EDT, 2 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 9:52 AM EDT, 2 hours 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY - RUSKIN, FL
948 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997

...SHORT DISCUSSION...
U/L TROF TO SWING THRU SE STATES TODAY AS COLD FRONT WEST OF TLH MOVES
TO THE SE. SQUALL LINE AHEAD OF FRONT ACROSS NORTH HALF CWA WILL COVER
WC FL BY NOON AND REACH SOUTH END CWA BY EARLY AFTERNOON.  COLD FRONT
LAGS BEHIND AND WILL BE MOVING INTO WC FL THIS AFTERNOON.  ATMOS SOUTH
OF FRONT UNSTABLE WITH MOISTURE EXPECTED TOl INCREASE.

RKR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 23, 8:08 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Levy	52 min
Apr 23, 8:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hernando, Pasco	65 min
Apr 23, 8:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Citrus, Levy	65 min
Apr 23, 9:30 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hernando	45 min
Apr 23, 9:34 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Citrus	41 min
Apr 23, 9:50 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Sumter	40 min
Apr 23, 9:57 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Pasco	63 min
Apr 23, 10:10 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hernando	65 min
Apr 23, 10:28 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Sumter	62 min
Apr 23, 10:59 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Pasco, Pinellas	61 min
Apr 23, 11:03 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Pasco, Pinellas	42 min
Apr 23, 11:23 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	67 min
Apr 23, 11:35 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	40 min
Apr 23, 11:59 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Polk	61 min
Apr 23, 12:26 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	49 min
Apr 23, 12:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Manatee	57 min
Apr 23, 12:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Polk	61 min
Apr 23, 1:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pinellas	55 min
Apr 23, 2:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hardee	55 min
Apr 23, 2:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Manatee	53 min
Apr 23, 2:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Highlands	60 min
Apr 23, 2:33 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Sarasota	42 min
Apr 23, 3:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Manatee, Sarasota	63 min
Apr 23, 3:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands	60 min
Apr 23, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Charlotte, Sarasota	64 min
Apr 23, 4:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Highlands	68 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Florida, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.