Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 57

February 22, 199824 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 22, 1998, 2:15 PM EST for 24 counties in Florida. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 22, 1998, 2:15 PM EST (19:15 UTC)
Expired: Feb 22, 1998, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 24 counties

Brevard County, FL, Citrus County, FL, DeSoto County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Hardee County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Highlands County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Indian River County, FL, Lake County, FL, Levy County, FL, Manatee County, FL, Marion County, FL, Okeechobee County, FL, Orange County, FL, Osceola County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Polk County, FL, Saint Lucie County, FL, Sarasota County, FL, Seminole County, FL, Sumter County, FL, Volusia County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:16 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 22, 2:17 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Osceola	33 min
Feb 22, 2:27 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Orange	63 min
Feb 22, 2:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard	65 min
Feb 22, 2:59 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Orange, Seminole	66 min
Feb 22, 3:00 PM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Orange, Seminole	65 min
Feb 22, 3:06 PM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Osceola	64 min
Feb 22, 3:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard, Volusia	66 min
Feb 22, 3:46 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Alachua, Marion	44 min
Feb 22, 4:59 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Flagler	31 min

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 91 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: 38 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 715 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 291 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

017 
WWUS9 KMKC 221844
SEL7  
MKC WW 221844
FLZ000-230200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 57
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
144 PM EST SUN FEB 22 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL FLORIDA                            
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 215 PM UNTIL 900
PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF DAYTONA BEACH FLORIDA TO
35 MILES SOUTH OF AVON PARK FLORIDA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 56...

DISCUSSION...AIR MASS HAS BECOME VERY UNSTABLE ACROSS THE PENINSULA
WITH STRONG DAYTIME HEATING. CONVECTION IS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP
AHEAD OF THE SQUALL LINE CURRENTLY LOCATED ACROSS NORTHERN FLORIDA.
LOW-MID LEVEL SHEAR PROFILES REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
OF SUPERCELLS...ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE INCREASING INSTABILITY. STORM-
RELATIVE WIND FORECASTS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 520. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...VESCIO

293,0803 270,0795 270,0824 293,0832

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 22, 8:30 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bay, Calhoun, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 14 more	6 hr
Feb 22, 11:30 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval and 5 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 1998 Every 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.