Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 24, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 23, 1998, 12:14 AM EST for Volusia County, Florida. It was in force for 61 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
- Feb 23, 1998, 12:14 AM EST (05:14 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 23, 1998, 1:15 AM EST
- In force
- 61 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Volusia County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:15 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 23, 12:25 AM EST | Tornado F3 | Osteen, FL | The Sanford tornado crossed into Volusia County near Highway 46 and the St. Johns River where it killed a 53 year old man in a recreational vehicle at a fish camp. The tornado continued northeast for 2 miles and dissipated in a rural part of south Volusia Coun |
| Feb 23, 12:45 AM EST | Tornado F2 | Oak Hill, FL | The same supercell that produced the Sanford tornado produced an F2 tornado that touched down just west of Interstate 95 about 5 miles west of Oak Hill. The tornado moved northeast at 45 mph blowing down trees destroying two barns and damaging 10 mobile home |
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
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 00:00Z, 5.2 hours before the alert went out and 168 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 778 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -91 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 87 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
215 WFUS01 KMLB 230515 RRA TORMLB AMZ550-FLC127-230615- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1214 AM EST MON FEB 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 AM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...VOLUSIA COUNTY AT 1212 AM EST...WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR LAKE MARY IN SEMINOLE COUNTY MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS TORNADO WILL ENTER INTO VOLUSIA COUNTY NEAR DELTONA AND ENTERPRISE...TO NEAR OSTEEN...TO NEAR LAKE ASHBY. RESIDENTS SHOULD ACT NOW TO PROTECT THEMSELVES SHARP
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, 11:27 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Lake | 63 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, 12:21 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.