Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 70, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Sep 25, 1998, 2:20 PM EDT for DeSoto County, Florida. It was in force for 25 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
- Sep 25, 1998, 2:20 PM EDT (18:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 25, 1998, 2:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 25 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County DeSoto County, FL
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2:50 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Arcadia, FL | The De Soto County Emergency Management reported that a weak tornado, associated with an outer band of Hurricane Georges, sporadically touched down along a narrow path and toppled a few trees and branches before it lifted and dissipated. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 11:00 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 12 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 82 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTBW 251820 RRA TORTBW FLC027-251845- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 220 PM EDT FRI SEP 25 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... DESOTO COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL FLORIDA * UNTIL 245 PM EDT * AT 215 PM...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ABOUT 5 MILES EAST OF ARCADIA ALONG STATE ROAD 70. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHWEST AT 30 MPH.N * LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM ARCADIA BY 225 PM THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM NEED TO TAKE COVER IN A STURDY BUILDING. MOBILE HOMES AND CARS ARE NOT SAFE. SOBIEN/ZALESKI
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 Sep 25, 2:10 PM EDT, 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 25, 2:10 PM EDT, 10 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA/RUSKIN, FL 210 PM EDT FRI SEP 25 1998 .CURRENTLY...ACTIVE LATE MORNING/EARLY AFTERNOON ON THE 88D AS SEVERAL TORNADO WARNINGS HAVE ALREADY BEEN ISSUED AND MORE LIKELY TO COME. OTHERWISE...WINDS FINALLY TRENDING UPWARD IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AS RAINBANDS APPROACH WITH GUSTS TO 40 KTS AT RSW WITHIN THE LAST HOUR. TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11PM FOR ALL AREAS EXCEPT LEVY COUNTY. .FORECAST...NOT A WHOLE LOT OF TIME FOR TOO MANY METEOROLOGICAL INSIGHTS TODAY. BOTTOM LINE IS CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO WORSEN OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS IN THE SOUTHWEST AS BANDS FROM GEORGES WORK INTO THE AREA. WINDS WILL ALSO STEADILY BE ON THE INCREASE OVER THE CENTRAL AND NORTH. WITH EACH GEORGES TRACK FORECAST FROM NHC...THE STORM GETS SHIFTED A TINY BIT FARTHER LEFT...WHICH IS BETTER NEWS FOR THE FORECAST AREA...PARTICULARLY THE NORTH. AFTER COORDINATION WITH WSFO MIA... WILL RECOMMEND LOWERING THE INLAND HIGH WIND WARNING OVER SUMTER AND POLK COUNTIES TO AN ADVISORY. HIGH WIND WARNING OVER HARDEE...DESOTO AND HIGHLANDS STILL LOOKS OK...AS THEY WILL BE CLOSER TO THE CENTER OF GEORGES. WIND ADVISORY OVER CITRUS AND LEVY ACCEPTABLE AS WELL. WE WILL WAIT UNTIL AFTER 4PM HURRICANE CENTER CONFERENCE CALL TO MAKE FINAL DECISIONS FOR OTHER STATEMENTS BASED ON WHERE HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM WATCHES/WARNINGS WILL BE ADJUSTED. STILL FEEL THAT FLOOD WATCH OVER ALL AREAS IS WARRANTED...ALTHOUGH IT NOW APPEARS THAT RAINFALL OVER NORTHERN SECTIONS SHOULD BE LOWER THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT...BUT STILL MAY BE ENOUGH TO CAUSE SOME PROBLEMS. HAVE SPOKEN WITH MIA AND TLH REGARDING POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF A COASTAL FLOOD DWATCH FOR OUR AREA. NO FINAL DECISIONS HAVE BEEN IRONED OUT YET AND WILL WAIT FOR THE CONFERENCE CALL ON THAT AS WELL. THANKS FOR THE COORDINATION FROM ALL OFFICES. PAYLOR
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 8:59 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Polk | 46 min |
| Sep 25, 9:52 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Polk | 48 min |
| Sep 25, 10:40 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Polk | 35 min |
| Sep 25, 11:46 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Pasco | 49 min |
| Sep 25, 1:12 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Pasco | 43 min |
| Sep 25, 1:21 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Polk | 49 min |
| Sep 25, 2:23 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | Charlotte | 37 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.