Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Melbourne, FL

February 19, 1998Orange County, Osceola County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 19, 1998, 9:31 PM EST for Orange County, Osceola County, Florida. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Feb 19, 1998, 9:31 PM EST (02:31 UTC)
Expired
Feb 19, 1998, 10:20 PM EST
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Melbourne, FL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Orange County, FL, Osceola County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:31 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 19, 9:00 PM ESTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 75 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-02-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 965 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Cape Canaveral, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-02-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 254 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
965 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
769 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
83 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
254 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
324 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMLB 200231 RRA
TORMLB
FLC095-097-200320-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
931 PM EST THU FEB 19 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1020 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

   ...WESTERN ORANGE COUNTY
   ...NORTHWESTERN OSCEOLA COUNTY
 
AT 930 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A
DEVELOPING TORNADO IN EXTREME NORTHEAST POLK COUNTY NORTH OF
INTERSTATE 4. THE SEVERE STORM WILL MOVE EAST NORTHEAST 40 MPH
AND CROSS RT 27 TOWARDS THE MAGIC KINGDOM AND CONTINUE TOWARDS
INTERNATIONAL DRIVE AND THE REMAINDER OF THE ATTRACTIONS. BRIEF
TORNADO TOUCHDOWNS ARE LIKELY IN THIS PATH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE
HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
THE SAFEST PLACE IS AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF A STRONG BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 19, 8:53 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBOrange, Seminole47 min
Feb 19, 10:23 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBOrange37 min
Feb 19, 10:37 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBBrevard58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.