Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 21, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 22, 1998, 11:27 PM EST for Lake County, Florida. It was in force for 63 min. 1 report 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
- Feb 22, 1998, 11:27 PM EST (04:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 23, 1998, 12:30 AM EST
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lake County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:29 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 11:37 PM EST | Tornado F3 | Clermont, FL | The second tornado of the outbreak touched down in Lake County just east of Lake Louisa along Highway 27. It moved northeast at 45 mph through a rural area blowing down trees but otherwise causing little property damage. At 11:41 pm the tornado moved into Oran |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 9:00 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 136 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
- 906 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1127 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 239 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 283 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.4
- Supercell composite
- 14.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
029 WFUS01 KMLB 230428 RRA TORMLB FLC069-230530- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1127 PM EST SUN FEB 22 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...LAKE COUNTY AT 1125 PM EST...WEATHER RADAR INDICATED TWO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER LAKE COUNTY. ONE WAS ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CLERMONT AND ANOTHER WAS BETWEEN LEESBURG AND TAVARES...REACHING TO NEAR LISBON. THESE STORMS WERE BEGINNING TO SHOW SIGNS OF TORNADIC DEVELOPMENT. RESIDENTS IN LAKE COUNTY SHOULD TAKE COVER AT THE FIRST SIGNS OF THESE APPROACHING THUNDERSTORMS. THEY WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Melbourne, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 9:45 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Lake | 65 min |
| Feb 22, 10:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 53 min |
| Feb 22, 11:20 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 45 min |
| Feb 22, 11:37 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Orange | 63 min |
| Feb 22, 11:56 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Seminole | 59 min |
| Feb 23, 12:14 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 61 min |
| Feb 23, 12:21 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | MLB | Volusia | 3 hr |
| Feb 23, 12:22 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Osceola | 58 min |
| Feb 23, 12:40 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | MLB | Orange, Seminole | 3 hr |
| Feb 23, 12:40 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Orange | 45 min |
| Feb 23, 1:19 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Orange, Osceola | 61 min |
| Feb 23, 1:23 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 62 min |
| Feb 23, 2:27 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 48 min |
| Feb 23, 3:04 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Osceola | 56 min |
| Feb 23, 3:16 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 59 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.