Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 33, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 22, 1998, 9:32 PM EST for Sumter County, Florida. It was in force for 43 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
- Feb 22, 1998, 9:32 PM EST (02:32 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 22, 1998, 10:15 PM EST
- In force
- 43 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sumter County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 9:50 PM EST | Tornado F0 | Coleman, FL | A short-lived tornado touched down along U.S. Highway 301 near County Road 468 and damaged a mobile home, a few sheds, downed trees and a few power lines before it lifted. |
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 22, 9:00 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 116 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
- 906 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1127 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 69 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 239 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 283 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.4
- Supercell composite
- 14.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
477 WFUS1 KTBW 230233 RRA TORTBW FLC119-230315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 932 PM EST SUN FEB 22 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM EST FOR ...SUMTER COUNTY AT 930 PM...RADAR INDICATED TWO THUNDERSTORMS...EACH CONTAINING A POSSIBLE TORNADO...APPROACHING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SUMTER COUNTY. A DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED TORNADO MEANS THAT THERE IS STRONG ROTATION WITHIN A STORM. THE STORM MAY NOT BE PRODUCING A TORNADO AT THE MOMENT...BUT WILL LIKELY DURING THE WARNING PERIOD. THE STORM MAY ALSO INCLUDE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND. THOSE IN THE PATH OF THE STORM ARE ADVISED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. RESIDENTS IN SUMTER COUNTY SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 9:12 PM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Citrus | 48 min |
| Feb 23, 12:00 AM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Polk | 45 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.