Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 64, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

September 25, 1998Polk County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Sep 25, 1998, 8:59 AM EDT for Polk County, Florida. It was in force for 46 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
Sep 25, 1998, 8:59 AM EDT (12:59 UTC)
Expired
Sep 25, 1998, 9:45 AM EDT
In force
46 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 12:58 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

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 1.0 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 1998-09-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 324 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 12:00Z on 1998-09-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 6 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
324 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
920 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

114 
WFUS1 KTBW 251300 RRA
TORTBW
FLC105-251345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
859 AM EDT FRI SEP 25 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  POLK COUNTY IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 945 AM EDT

* AT 856 AM...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
  DOPPLER RADAR 10 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF LAKE WALES. THE TORNADO
  WAS MOVING NORTHWEST AT 40 MPH.

* THIS STORM WILL AFFECT

  LAKE WALES BY 920 AM
  WAVERLY BY 925 AM

A DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED TORNADO MEANS A TORNADO MAY NOT BE
OCCURRING AT THE MOMENT...BUT WILL LIKELY DO SO DURING THE WARNING
PERIOD. TAKE COVER IN A STURDY BUILDING. MOBILE HOMES AND CARS ARE
NOT SAFE.

ZALESKI

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 25, 9:52 AM EDTTornado WarningTBWPolk48 min
Sep 25, 10:40 AM EDTTornado WarningTBWPolk35 min
Sep 25, 11:46 AM EDTTornado WarningTBWPasco49 min
Sep 25, 1:12 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWPasco43 min
Sep 25, 1:21 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWPolk49 min
Sep 25, 2:20 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWDeSoto25 min
Sep 25, 2:23 PM EDTTornado WarningTBWCharlotte37 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.