Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

January 23, 1998Polk County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Jan 23, 1998, 11:51 AM EST for Polk County, Florida. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 23, 1998, 11:51 AM EST (16:51 UTC)
Expired: Jan 23, 1998, 12:40 PM EST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Polk County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:55 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 4.9 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 1021 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

542 
WFUS1 KTBW 231652 RRA
TORTBW
FLC105-231740-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
1151 AM EST FRI JAN 23 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1240 PM EST FOR

...POLK COUNTY


AT 1148 AM EST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN RUSKIN
INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR FORT MEADE. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST
AT 35 MPH.  RESIDENTS FROM FORT MEADE NORTHEAST TO NEAR LAKE WALES
NEED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF
THIS TORNADO GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID
WINDOWS AND DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY
BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Jan 23, 9:30 AM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 23, 9:30 AM EST, 2 hours 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN, FL
930 AM EST FRI JAN 23 1998

BUSY. COORD W/SPC ON TORNADO THREAT. WATCH ISSUED FOR FCST AREA SOUTH
AND EAST OF TAMPA AREA AS THE SOUTHERN LINE HAS BEST INFLOW AND CHANCES
FOR CONTINUED SVR THREAT. STORMS MOVG THRU TAMPA EXPECTED TO BE GONE
BY 1030AM...THUS WATCH NOT INCLUDE TAMPA METRO AREA.

ZONES UPDATED...AND WL LIKELY ISSUE A FEW MORE AS STORMS MOVE OUT OF
MOST OF THE AREA. HAVE LITTLE BIT OF CONCERN FOR SOME HEAVY RAINS/
FLOODING SRQ AND SOUTH AND LINE IN GULF BECOMING MORE E-W ORIENTED.
SYSTEM STILL SEEMS PROGRESSIVE ENUF THAT WE CAN ESCAPE THAT PROBLEM...
BUT WL MONITOR.

THANKS FOR COORD CALLS JR

NASH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 8:24 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Pinellas
Jan 23, 8:25 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota	60 min
Jan 23, 8:46 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pinellas	49 min
Jan 23, 8:50 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hardee	45 min
Jan 23, 9:23 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Hardee	47 min
Jan 23, 9:28 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pasco	47 min
Jan 23, 9:38 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Highlands	47 min
Jan 23, 9:49 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	46 min
Jan 23, 10:33 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hardee, Highlands	47 min
Jan 23, 10:42 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.