Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

April 28, 1997Hillsborough County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 1997, 11:50 AM EDT for Hillsborough County, Florida. It was in force for 25 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: Apr 28, 1997, 11:50 AM EDT (15:50 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 1997, 12:15 PM EDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Hillsborough County, FL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 28, 11:55 AM EDT	Tornado F0	Tampa, FL	A tornado touched down on 10th Street and Martin Luther King Blvd and downed several trees and power lines. The tornado continued northeast across a residential area where it caused minor roof and garage damage and downed a few trees and power lines. A small

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, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 23 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: 1286 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 576 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 209 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 217 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 8.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

677 
WFUS1 KTBW 281553 RRA
TORTBW
FLC057-281615-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL
1150 AM EDT MON APR 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA
 
   ...NORTHERN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST
 
DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
A TORNADO JUST SOUTH OF TEMPLE TERRACE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO MOVE TO A REINFORCED SHELTER
OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS.
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET
INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN REQUESTS THAT SKYWARN
UNITS IN THE COUNTY BE ACTIVATED AND FORWARD ALL SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER REPORTS TO OUR OFFICE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 11:42 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	48 min
Apr 28, 12:11 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Pasco	34 min
Apr 28, 12:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	40 min
Apr 28, 1:02 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hardee, Polk	43 min
Apr 28, 1:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Hardee	45 min
Apr 28, 1:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, Lee	53 min
Apr 28, 1:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Highlands	66 min
Apr 28, 1:46 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	59 min
Apr 28, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Lee	63 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.