Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 25, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 23, 1998, 12:22 AM EST for Osceola County, Florida. It was in force for 58 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 23, 1998, 12:22 AM EST (05:22 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 23, 1998, 1:20 AM EST
- In force
- 58 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Osceola County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:25 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, 12:40 AM EST | Tornado F3 | Intercession City, FL | The deadliest tornado of the outbreak was a category F3 that touched down initially one mile south of Intercession City. The tornado moved northeast at 45 mph and ripped through the town of Kissimmee killing 25 people. The hardest hit areas were the Mornings |
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, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 129 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.
251 WFUS01 KMLB 230523 RRA TORMLB FLC097-230620- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1222 AM EST MON FEB 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 120 AM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...NORTHERN OSCEOLA COUNTY AT 1218 AM EST...WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO ABOUT 8 MILES NORTHEAST OF LAKELAND MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND POSSIBLE TORNADO WILL MOVE INTO NORTHWEST OSCEOLA COUNTY NEAR INTERCESSION CITY...KISSIMMEE...AND THE ATTRACTIONS AREA. THE STORM WILL LIKELY CONTINUE INTO SOUTHWEST ORANGE COUNTY. A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN ORANGE COUNTY UNTIL 1240 AM. THIS WARNING MAY BE EXTENDED. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES CAN BE TOSSED ABOUT BY TORNADO WINDS. DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR VEHICLE. ABANDON VEHICLES AND MOBILE HOMES WHEN THREATENED BY A TORNADO AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT. 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, 12:14 AM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 61 min |
| Feb 23, 12:21 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | MLB | Volusia | 3 hr |
| Feb 23, 12:40 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.