Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 2, 1998, 11:06 PM EST for Saint Lucie County, Florida. It was in force for 34 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 2, 1998, 11:06 PM EST (04:06 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 2, 1998, 11:40 PM EST
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Saint Lucie County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:08 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 2, 11:30 PM EST | Tornado F0 | Ft Pierce, FL | A small F-0 tornado touched down briefly on Hutchinson Island blowing down trees and blowing windows out of a condominium. |
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 2, 8:00 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 00:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 121 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
- 42 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -78 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 645 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 66 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 317 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 448 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
518 WFUS01 KMLB 030405 TORMLB FLC111-030440- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 1106 PM EST MON FEB 2 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1140 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...EASTERN ST. LUCIE COUNTY ...AT 1104 AM DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO DEVELOPING SOUTH OF PORT ST LUCIE. THIS TORNADO WILL MOVE THROUGH PORT ST LUCIE AND WALTON. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM TAKE SHELTER NOW 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2, 9:48 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Okeechobee | 57 min |
| Feb 2, 10:39 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Martin, Saint Lucie | 66 min |
| Feb 2, 10:52 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Indian River | 63 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.