Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 100

March 8, 199827 counties in Florida; 20 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 8, 1998, 8:00 PM EST for 27 counties in Florida; 20 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 8, 1998, 8:00 PM EST (01:00 UTC)
Expired
Mar 9, 1998, 2:00 AM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 47 counties

Alachua County, FL, Baker County, FL, Bradford County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Clay County, FL, Columbia County, FL, Dixie County, FL, Duval County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Gilchrist County, FL, Hamilton County, FL, Hardee County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lake County, FL, Levy County, FL, Manatee County, FL, Marion County, FL, Nassau County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Polk County, FL, Putnam County, FL, Saint Johns County, FL, Sumter County, FL, Suwannee County, FL, Union County, FL, Appling County, GA, Bacon County, GA, Brantley County, GA, Bryan County, GA, Camden County, GA, Charlton County, GA, Chatham County, GA, Clinch County, GA, Echols County, GA, Evans County, GA, Glynn County, GA, Jeff Davis County, GA, Liberty County, GA, Long County, GA, McIntosh County, GA, Pierce County, GA, Tattnall County, GA, Toombs County, GA, Ware County, GA, Wayne County, GA

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 155 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:00 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.

Warnings issued inside it

19 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 8, 8:18 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXColumbia62 min
Mar 8, 8:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXGilchrist59 min
Mar 8, 9:21 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningJAXAppling, Bacon, Jeff Davis4 hr
Mar 8, 9:29 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Union61 min
Mar 8, 10:07 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXMarion58 min
Mar 8, 10:23 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXClay, Duval62 min
Mar 8, 10:25 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHernando, Pasco55 min
Mar 8, 10:27 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXPutnam63 min
Mar 8, 10:44 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXSaint Johns46 min
Mar 8, 10:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXFlagler44 min
Mar 8, 11:06 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBLake, Volusia59 min
Mar 8, 11:51 PM ESTTornado WarningTBWPasco44 min
Mar 9, 12:29 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWManatee, Sarasota51 min
Mar 9, 12:34 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHillsborough, Polk51 min
Mar 9, 12:52 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHardee48 min
Mar 9, 12:55 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningJAXAppling, Bacon, Coffee, Jeff Davis20 min
Mar 9, 12:55 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningJAXAppling, Bacon, Coffee, Jeff Davis7 hr
Mar 9, 1:24 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHighlands, Polk46 min
Mar 9, 1:32 AM ESTTornado WarningTBWPolk33 min

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 157 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-03-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 833 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Jacksonville, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-03-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 208 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
833 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1161 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
240 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
2.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 9, 1:00 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCBrevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades and 14 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 1998Tornado Watches in Georgia, 1998Every tornado watch 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.