Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 23, 1997, 9:30 AM EDT for Hernando County, Florida. It was in force for 45 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
- Apr 23, 1997, 9:30 AM EDT (13:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 23, 1997, 10:15 AM EDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Hernando County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:30 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, 9:40 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Spring Hill, FL | A tornado touched down and damaged at least twelve mobile homes and a church in Spring Hill. The most significant damage occurred on Blackhawk Drive where several mobile homes were damaged and a car was smashed by a fallen tree. The tornado downed numerous t |
| Apr 23, 9:55 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Brooksville, FL | A tornado sporatically touched down along a 16 mile path and damaged up to 50 homes from near U.S. HIghway 41, four miles southwest of Brooksville, east to the Ridge Manor area. Several trees and power lines were also downed from the tornado before it lifted |
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 |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 95 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
114 WFUS1 KTBW 231334 RRA TORTBW FLC053-231415- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL 930 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...HERNANDO COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST SEVERAL TORNADOES WERE REPORTED BY SPOTTERS NEAR HERNANO BEACH. THE TORNADOES WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 40 TO 50 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. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY &
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, 9:34 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, 12:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Pinellas | 56 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
Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.