Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Melbourne, FL

February 16, 1998Osceola County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 16, 1998, 2:49 PM EST for Osceola County, Florida. It was in force for 61 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 16, 1998, 2:49 PM EST (19:49 UTC)
Expired: Feb 16, 1998, 3:50 PM EST
In force: 61 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 19:50 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 16, 3:30 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 60	St Cloud, FL	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and damaged mobile homes in the St. Cloud and Narcoosee areas.

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 16, 1:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 78 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 348 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 555 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 382 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 518 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

834 
WFUS01 KMLB 161950 RRA
TORMLB
FLC097-162050-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
249 PM EST MON FEB 16 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 350 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

   ...OSCEOLA COUNTY
 
AT 245 PM...WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING A TORNADO 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAKE TOHO. THIS STORM HAS
A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES ACROSS POLK COUNTY. THE STORM WILL
MOVE INTO OSCEOLA COUNTY NEAR LAKE TOHO SHORTLY BEFORE 3 PM...THEN
REACH THE KISSIMMEE AND EAST LAKE TOHO AREA BY 315 PM.
AS THE STORM MOVES ALONG THIS TRACK...DAMAGING WINDS AND BRIEF
TORNADO TOUCHDOWNS ARE EXPECTED.
 
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 15, 9:30 PM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Martin, Okeechobee, Saint Lucie	50 min
Feb 16, 2:44 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Lake, Orange	66 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, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.