Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 7, NWS Melbourne, FL
NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 16, 1998, 3:10 PM EST for Lake County, Florida. It was in force for 60 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, 3:10 PM EST (20:10 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 16, 1998, 4:10 PM EST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Melbourne, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lake County, FL
The radar
The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:10 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, 3:45 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Altoona, FL | Thunderstorm winds blew down trees that damaged a mobile home near Altoona. |
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, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 123 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
965 WFUS01 KMLB 162011 RRA TORMLB FLC069-162110- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 310 PM EST MON FEB 16 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE FL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 410 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ...LAKE COUNTY RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ASTOR PARK AND ANOTHER STORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR ZELLWOOD WHICH WILL AFFECT AREAS FROM MT. PLYMOUTH TO CASSIA. THIS STORMS WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH AND WILL REACH VOLUSIA COUNTY SHORTLY. 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, 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, 3:15 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.