Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

May 22, 1997Polk County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1997, 6:36 PM EDT for Polk County, Florida. It was in force for 44 min. 2 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: May 22, 1997, 6:36 PM EDT (22:36 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 1997, 7:20 PM EDT
In force: 44 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 22:37 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
May 22, 6:37 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Bartow, FL	A weak tornado touched down briefly along a path less than a mile long near State Road 60. Damage was confined to sheet metal on a few mobile homes and downed trees.
May 22, 6:50 PM EDT	Hail 0.88	Bartow, FL	Nickel sized hail that lasted for ten minutes was reported at and around the Bartow Municipal Airport.

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, 10.6 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.

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: 938 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 783 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.1
Supercell composite: -0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTBW 222237
TORTBW
FLC105-222320-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
636 PM EDT THU MAY 22 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 720 PM EDT

FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION(S)

IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

   ...POLK COUNTY
 
AT 630 PM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS
INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR  3 MILES EAST OF
BARTOW MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MPH.

AN UNCONFIRMED REPORT OF A TORNADO HAS BEEN RECEIVED WITH THIS
STORM. LARGE HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER AND STRONG WINDS IN EXCESS
OF 60 MPH REMAIN LIKELY...AND HAVE ALREADY OCCURRED WITH THIS STORM.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
FORT MEADE               AROUND 649 PM EDT
 
A DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED TORNADO MEANS THAT THERE IS STRONG ROTATION
WITHIN A STORM. THE STORM MAY NOT BE PRODUCING A TORNADO AT THE
MOMENT...BUT WILL LIKELY DURING THE WARNING PERIOD. THE STORM MAY
ALSO INCLUDE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND. THOSE IN THE PATH
OF THE STORM ARE ADVISED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. MOBILE HOMES ARE
NOT SAFE.

&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at May 22, 3:07 PM EDT, 3 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 3:07 PM EDT, 3 hours 29 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN, FL
307 PM EDT THU MAY 22 1997

FRONT MAY BE ABOUT STATIONARY ALONG A CRYSTAL RIVER TO CAPE CANAVERAL
LINE THIS EARLY AFTN. WEAK 5H VORT IMPULSE...AMPLE HEATING ASSOCIATED
WITH FRONT GENERATING SCTD TSTMS N CNTRL FA SEWD THRU E CNTRL PNSULA.
SUSPECT TSTMS WILL CONT TO BECOME QUITE WIDESPREAD OVER INTERIOR CNTRL
PNSULA...BUT QUESTION IS HOW MUCH OF AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY MAY PROPAGATE
FROM THIS CONVECTION TO FIRE NEW TSTMS INTO S CNTRL PNSULA BEFORE
A DIURNAL DEMISE. SO WOULD FAVOR DIMINISHED EVE POPS TO THE GULF COAST
WITH LITTLE OR NOTHING FOR MANATEE...SARASOTA...CHARLOTTE AND LEE.

VARIABLE CLOUDINESS TNGT WITH RAIN MOISTED NELY FLO BRIDGING THRU FNT.
FOR FRI WITH CONTD RIDING ALFT...AND NO 5H VORT IMPULSES...WOULD XPT
ONLY WIDELY SCTD DIURNAL TSTMS OVER THE PNSULA...POTENTIALLY FAVORING
THE GULF COAST ZONES WITH INTERACTION OF OLD FRONT OR OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES
WITH COASTAL SEA BREEZES.

MOS TEMPS SEEM OK FOR FRI BUT POPS SEEM HI.
DMR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 3:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Levy	57 min
May 22, 5:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Polk	64 min
May 22, 5:46 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	49 min
May 22, 5:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Highlands	60 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.