Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

January 23, 1998Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Jan 23, 1998, 8:46 AM EST for Hillsborough County, Pinellas County, Florida. It was in force for 49 min. 1 report 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: Jan 23, 1998, 8:46 AM EST (13:46 UTC)
Expired: Jan 23, 1998, 9:35 AM EST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hillsborough County, FL, Pinellas County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 26 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:49 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jan 23, 9:25 AM EST	Tornado F0	Tampa, FL	A tornado sporatically touched down along a nearly one mile path from Linebaugh Avenue and 18th Street N. northeast across 22nd Street N. and lifted at 112 Avenue and 27th Street N. The tornado caused moderate shingle damage to three homes and caused minor da

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 nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 210 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.

466 
WFUS1 KTBW 231347 RRA
TORTBW
FLC057-103-231435-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 935 AM EST FOR

...PINELLAS COUNTY
...HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY


AT 843 AM EST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN RUSKIN
INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF PINELLAS PARK
APPROACHING THE WESTERN ENDS OF THE HOWARD FRANKLAND AND GANDY BRIDGES
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
DOWNTOWN TAMPA           AROUND 850 AM EST
YBOR CITY                AROUND 855 AM EST
SULPHUR SPRINGS          AROUND 855 AM EST
BRANDON                  AROUND 905 AM EST


THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

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, 8:50 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
Jan 23, 11:51 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	49 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.