Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 5, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 23, 1997, 9:50 AM EDT for Sumter County, Florida. It was in force for 40 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, 9:50 AM EDT (13:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 23, 1997, 10:30 AM EDT
- In force
- 40 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sumter County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 23, 10:05 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Panasoffkee, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several trees in the vicinity of Lake Panasoffkee. Also, a fire station's roof was damaged by a wind toppled tree. |
| Apr 23, 10:10 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Wildwood, FL | A tornado touched down along State Road 44 west of U.S. Highway 301 and damaged up to 24 buildings in the city of Wildwood. The tornado touched down on the Wildwood High School and caused roof and window damage. Numerous trees were uprooted and power lines d |
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, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 116 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.
000 TTAA00 KTBW 231355 RRA TORTBW FLC119-231430- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL 950 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL FLORIDA ...SUMTER COUNTY A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY SPOTTERS AND INDICATED BY RADAR OVER HERNANDO COUNTY AND WILL BE MOVING INTO SUMTER COUNTY WITHIN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES. THE TORNADO WAS 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 nHOMES 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, 9:30 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Hernando | 45 min |
| Apr 23, 9:34 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Citrus | 41 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.