Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 23, 1997, 11:03 AM EDT for Pasco County, Pinellas County, Florida. It was in force for 42 min. 8 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, 11:03 AM EDT (15:03 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 23, 1997, 11:45 AM EDT
- In force
- 42 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:04 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, 11:08 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Tarpon Spgs, FL | Thunderstorm winds caused shutter damage to several homes and downed numerous large branches along Alternate U.S. Highway 19. |
| Apr 23, 11:11 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Holiday, FL | A Skywarn Spotter reported a wind gust to 60 mph. |
| Apr 23, 11:14 AM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Holiday, FL | |
| Apr 23, 11:18 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Holiday, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and power lines east of Holiday near State Road 54. |
| Apr 23, 11:20 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | St Petersburg, FL | A thunderstorm wind gust of 63 mph was reported by WTSP-TV near U.S. Highway 92 (Gandy Bridge). |
| Apr 23, 11:25 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Clearwater, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and power lines from Clearwater east across the county to St Petersburg. |
| Apr 23, 11:30 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Zephyrhills, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several large trees along State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel. Nearly 10,000 residents along the State Road 54 corridor from I-75 to Zephyrhills were without electricity from power lines downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| Apr 23, 11:38 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Clearwater, FL | A short-lived tornado touched down on I-275 (Howard Franklin Bridge) 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 23, 8:00 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 48 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.
627 WFUS1 KTBW 231508 RRA TORTBW FLC101-103-231545- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN FL 1103 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAMPA BAY AREA RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...SOUTHERN PASCO COUNTY...NORTHERN PINELLAS COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS ALONG THE FLORIDA WEST COAST A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR JUST WEST OF ANCLOTE KEY MOVING ONSHORE BETWEEN TARPON SPRINGS AND NEW PORT RICHEY. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE EAST 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, 9:30 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Hernando | 45 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, 11:23 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.