Alert archive / Florida / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 94, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 4, 1997, 4:54 PM EDT for Polk County, Florida. It was in force for 71 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
- Jul 4, 1997, 4:54 PM EDT (20:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 4, 1997, 6:05 PM EDT
- In force
- 71 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Polk County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 5:10 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Lakeland, FL | Dime sized hail was reported in Bradley along State Road 37. |
| Jul 4, 5:30 PM EDT | Hail 0.88 | Lakeland, FL | Nickel sized hail was reported in Mulberry along State Road 37. |
| Jul 4, 5:40 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Winter Haven, FL | Golfball to nickel sized hail was reported in Winter Haven. |
| Jul 4, 5:45 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Winter Haven, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed numerous power lines across Winter Haven which left nearly 15,000 residents without electrical power for up to nine hours. |
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 nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 74 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
- 3025 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 755 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 6 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 35 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.3
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 Jul 4, 2:54 PM EDT, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:54 PM EDT, 2 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED FOR STM MOTION. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN, FL 253 PM EDT FRI JUL 04 1997 ...RAISED POPS FOR SCENT AND SW ZONES... JUST A QUICK UPDATE TO REGROUP SOME ZONES AND RAISE POPS OVR SCENT AND SW ZONES. 88D SHOWING ACTIVITY PICKING UP RAPIDLY...WITH PULSE STRNG/SVR STMS OVR SW/SCENT ZONES. EXPECTING HOT SPOT TO BE OVR SCENT AREA WHERE WCSB AND LAKE BRZ POSSIBLY MEET. STM MOTION HAS BEEN WESTERLY WITH SFC/LLVL WESTERLY FLO HELPING TO FEED STM DEVELOPMENT. MORALES
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 3:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Hardee, Manatee | 61 min |
| Jul 4, 5:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Hillsborough | 65 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Florida, 1997Every 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.