Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 34, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Feb 23, 1998, 12:00 AM EST for Polk County, Florida. It was in force for 45 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 23, 1998, 12:00 AM EST (05:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 23, 1998, 12:45 AM EST
- In force
- 45 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 05:01 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 23, 12:00 AM EST | Thunderstorm Wind | Kathleen, FL | Thunderstorm winds downed several power poles along County Road 35A in Kathleen. |
| Feb 23, 12:20 AM EST | Hail 0.88 | Polk City, FL | Nickel sized hail was observed in Polk City along State Road 33. |
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, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 74 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.
000 TTAA00 KTBW 230500 RRA TORTBW FLC105-230545- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 1200 AM EST MON FEB 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 AM EST FOR ...NORTHERN POLK COUNTY AT 1155 PM EST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN RUSKIN INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR 3 MILES EAST OF THE POLK/HILLSBOROUGH LINE ALONG I- 4 MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... LAKELAND AROUND MIDNIGHT EST POLK CITY AROUND 1205 AM EST HOLIDAY MANOR AROUND 1215 AM EST I-4 AT BASEBALL CITY AROUND 1220 AM EST ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR POLK CITY ALONG I-4 AND WAS MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEAST. 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 PERI"OD. THE STORM MAY ALSO INCLUDE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND. THOSE IN THE PATH OF THE STORM ARE ADVISED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. MILLER/NASH
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 22, 9:32 PM EST | Tornado Warning | TBW | Sumter | 43 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.