Alert archive / Florida / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 17, 1998, 4:03 AM EST for Sarasota County, Florida. It was in force for 47 min. 2 reports 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 17, 1998, 4:03 AM EST (09:03 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 17, 1998, 4:50 AM EST
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sarasota County, FL
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 4:26 AM EST | Tornado F1 | Venice, FL | A tornado touched down and blew over several large trees atop homes which caused significant roof damage along Bellini and Picasso Roads near Casey Key.A resident with an anemometer located 50 feet above ground level reported a wind gust of 109 mph at the 1800 |
| Feb 17, 4:30 AM EST | Thunderstorm Wind | Sarasota, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several large branches on Wilkenson and Proctor Roads in Sarasota. |
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 17, 3:30 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 58 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
- 1385 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -11 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 680 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 408 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 419 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.3
- Supercell composite
- 13.5
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Feb 17, 1:44 AM EST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 17, 1:44 AM EST, 2 hours 19 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN, FL 144 AM EST TUE FEB 17 1998 FAIRLY IMPRESSIVE SQUALL LINE NOW NOTED ON 88D AND SATL LOOPS EXTNDG FROM THE BIG BEND AREA SWWD INTO THE ERN GLFMX. STRONG UPR LVL JET STREAK...RICH THETA-E AIRMASS AND ADEQUATE INSTABILITY HELPING TO MAINTAIN ONGOING CONVECTION ALONG PRE-FRONTAL TROUGH AXIS LOCATED OVER THE ERN GLFMX. AS DVLPG SFC LOW NOW LOCATED OVER SWRN MS CONTS MOVG N TODAY PRE-FRONTAL BNDRY AND TRAILING CDFNT FROM SFC LOW WILL CONT TO SWING EWD. GIVEN CURRENT SPEED OF JET OVHD WOULD EXPECT TO SEE BEST CHANCES FOR PRECIP AND ANY SVR WX ACRS THE FA THROUGH MID MORNING NRN/CNTRL ZNS AND MID TO LATE MORNG ACRS MY SRN MOST ZONES BEFORE ENTIRE AREA SHIFTS EWD WITH DRIER AIRMASS MOVG INTO THE CWA AS FLOW BECOME WLY. WITH THIS THINKING...FEEL FFA (FLOOD WATCH CAN BE DROPPED IN 5 AM PACKAGE. IN ADDITION...WITH LOW LVL FLOW BECOMING WLY AND LIKELY TO DIMINISH SOME BY LATE MORNING WITH PASSAGE OF CONVECTION...CAN ALSO PROBABLY GET AWAY WITH DROPPING THE WIND ADVISORY AND CFW (COASTAL FLOOD WATCHS AND WARNINGS)AS WELL. AS FOR WORDING OF FIRST PERIOD...WOULD SUGGEST LIKELY CAT POPS WITH MENTION OF SOME POSSIBLE STRONG STORMS FOR EARLY THIS MORNING...THEN BECMG PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A SLIGHT CHC OF SHOWERS FOR THE PM HRS AS MAIN FRONT MOVES THROUGH. TONIGHT CDFNT WILL CONT MOVG THRU THE SRN MOST PENINSULA WITH YET ANOTHER WEAK TROUGH AXIS ROTATING THRU THE N-CNTRL PEN OVERNIGHT... BUT LACK OF SUFFICIENT MSTR SHOULD PRECLUDE ANY FURTHER PRECIP. ON WEDNESDAY SFC LOW NOW OVER MS WILL BE OVER THE OH VALLEY WITH UPR TROUGH WELL TO THE NE WITH WEAK UPR RDG AND SFC HI BUILDING INTO THE FA WHICH WILL RETURN SUNSHINE TO REGION. WITH ZONAL FLOW ALOFT NO REAL CAA EXPECTED IN WAKE OF FRONT SO TEMPS WILL REMAIN NEAR SEASONAL LVLS. FAN/FWC NUMBERS ARE ONCE AGAIN VERY CLOSE SO A BLEND OF THE TWO LOOKS REASONABLE FOR THE ENTIRE FA. THANKS FOR COORD AND THOUGHTS MIA. MCMICHAEL
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 3:36 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Pinellas | 44 min |
| Feb 17, 3:58 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Hillsborough | 47 min |
| Feb 17, 4:35 AM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Manatee | 35 min |
| Feb 17, 4:51 AM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Sarasota | 29 min |
| Feb 17, 4:59 AM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Hardee, Polk | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 5:04 AM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Manatee | 36 min |
| Feb 17, 5:34 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Hardee | 46 min |
| Feb 17, 6:02 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Highlands | 48 min |
| Feb 17, 9:12 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Lee | 48 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Florida, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.