Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 15, 1998, 9:30 PM EST for Martin County, Okeechobee County, Saint Lucie County, Florida. It was in force for 50 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 15, 1998, 9:30 PM EST (02:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 15, 1998, 10:20 PM EST
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Martin County, FL, Okeechobee County, FL, Saint Lucie County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:33 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 15, 6:15 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Miami, FL (KMFL), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 165 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
- 449 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 588 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 266 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 512 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 5.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
936 WFUS01 KMLB 160232 RRA TORMLB FLC085-093-111-160320- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 930 PM EST SUN FEB 15 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 ...ST. LUCIE COUNTY ...WESTERN MARTIN COUNTY ...OKEECHOBEE COUNTY AT 930 PM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR AT MELBOURNE INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTHEAST GLADES COUNTY EXTENDING ACROSS WESTERN LAKE OKEECHOBEE. THIS STORM WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL LIKELY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND SHORT-LIVED TORNADOES ALONG A PATH AFFECTING PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN OKEECHOBEE...NORTHWEST MARTIN...AND ST. LUCIE COUNTIES. 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. + SPRATT
The office that day
Everything else NWS Melbourne, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 16, 2:44 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake, Orange | 66 min |
| Feb 16, 2:49 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Osceola | 61 min |
| Feb 16, 3:02 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Orange, Seminole | 48 min |
| Feb 16, 3:10 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Lake | 60 min |
| Feb 16, 3:15 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 60 min |
| Feb 16, 3:46 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Orange, Seminole | 59 min |
| Feb 16, 4:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Brevard | 43 min |
| Feb 16, 4:25 PM EST | Tornado Warning | MLB | Volusia | 65 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.