Alert archive / Florida / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

February 17, 1998Sarasota County, Florida

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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Feb 17, 4:26 AM ESTTornado F1Venice, FLA 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 ESTThunderstorm WindSarasota, FLThunderstorm 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 17, 3:30 AM ESTTornado WatchSPC7 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-02-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1385 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, Tampa Bay, FL at 00:00Z on 1998-02-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 408 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
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

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.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 17, 3:36 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWPinellas44 min
Feb 17, 3:58 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHillsborough47 min
Feb 17, 4:35 AM ESTTornado WarningTBWManatee35 min
Feb 17, 4:51 AM ESTTornado WarningTBWSarasota29 min
Feb 17, 4:59 AM ESTTornado WarningTBWHardee, Polk46 min
Feb 17, 5:04 AM ESTTornado WarningTBWManatee36 min
Feb 17, 5:34 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHardee46 min
Feb 17, 6:02 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHighlands48 min
Feb 17, 9:12 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWLee48 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.