Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Miami, FL

March 9, 1998Miami-Dade County, Florida

NWS Miami, FL issued this tornado warning at Mar 9, 1998, 5:54 AM EST for Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was in force for 21 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: Mar 9, 1998, 5:54 AM EST (10:54 UTC)
Expired: Mar 9, 1998, 6:15 AM EST
In force: 21 min
Issued by: NWS Miami, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Miami-Dade County, FL

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:55 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
Mar 9, 6:00 AM EST	Tornado F1	Miami Opa Locka Arpt, FL	Tornado touched down near the Palmetto Expressway and NW 17th Ave. This is known as the Terry Lakes area. The tornado moved northeast through the 17000 and 18000 blocks of north Dade County to near Honey Hill Dr(NW 199th St) and US-441. The tornado then took a
Mar 9, 6:13 AM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 53	Opa Locka, FL

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
Mar 9, 1:00 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Miami, FL (KMFL), launched 00:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 31 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: 1605 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 557 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 7.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

017 
WFUS1 KMIA 091055 RRA
TORMIA
FLC025-091115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
554 AM EST MON MAR 9 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI FL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDA

   ...NORTHERN DADE COUNTY

AT 551 AM EST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 7 MILES
WEST OF CAROL CITY OR 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF HIALEAH GARDENS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS STORM JUST WEST OF THE INTERSECTION OF
I75 AND THE FLORIDA TURNPIKE WILL MOVE INTO THE WESTERN METRO
AREAS OF BROWARD COUNTY BY 600 AM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS UNDER
STURDY FURNITURE IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE
PILLOWS TO PROTECT YOUR HEAD. AVOID WINDOWS. A MOBILE HOME IS NOT A
SAFE REFUGE FROM A TORNADO. MOVE TO A MORE SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING. DO
NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR VEHICLE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 9, 2:41 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Collier	59 min
Mar 9, 3:22 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Collier, Glades, Hendry	63 min
Mar 9, 4:09 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Palm Beach	31 min
Mar 9, 4:21 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Collier	34 min
Mar 9, 4:41 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Palm Beach	64 min
Mar 9, 5:33 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MFL	Broward	32 min
Mar 9, 6:06 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MFL	Broward	29 min
Mar 9, 6:18 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Miami-Dade	62 min
Mar 9, 7:43 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Miami-Dade	47 min
Mar 9, 8:09 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Monroe	91 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

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.