Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

April 28, 1997Highlands County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 1997, 1:39 PM EDT for Highlands County, Florida. It was in force for 66 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, 1:39 PM EDT (17:39 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 1997, 2:45 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Highlands County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:38 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 28, 2:00 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Avon Park, FL	A tornado briefly touched down over a rural, semi-wooded area of extreme western Highlands county near County Road 634 with no apparent damage.

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 28, 12:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 112 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.

269 
WFUS1 KTBW 281743 RRA
TORTBW
FLC055-281845-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL
139 PM EDT MON APR 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL FLORIDA
 
   ...HIGHLANDS COUNTY
 
RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO
WAS LOCATED 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF AVON PARK MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40
MPH.
 
A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IS SPREADING ACROSS HIGHLANDS COUNTY.
OTHER THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE AND PRODUCE TORNADOES THROUGH
245 PM.
 
THESE STORMS HAVE HAD A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGE.  TAKE COVER
IMMEDIATELY.
 
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, 11:50 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough	25 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, 1:46 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.