Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 72, NWS Tampa Bay, FL
NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Sep 25, 1998, 2:23 PM EDT for Charlotte County, Florida. It was in force for 37 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
- Sep 25, 1998, 2:23 PM EDT (18:23 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 25, 1998, 3:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 37 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tampa Bay, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Charlotte County, FL
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2:25 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Punta Gorda, FL | A tornado, associated with an outer band of Hurricane Georges, sporadically touched down and toppled a few large trees along its path before it lifted and dissipated in northern Charlotte county. |
| Sep 25, 2:30 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Punta Gorda, FL | A 250 foot communications antenna was toppled by thunderstorm winds near County Road 765 near the community of Burnt Store. |
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, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 100 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.
884 WFUS1 KTBW 251824 RRA TORTBW FLC015-GMZ856-251900- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL 223 PM EDT FRI SEP 25 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CHARLOTTE COUNTY INCLUDING ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN SOUTHWESTERN FLORIDA * UNTIL 300 PM EDT * AT AT 220 PM...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ABOUT 5 MILES EAST OF PUNTA GORDA. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHWEST AT 30 MPH. * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED... CLEVELAND AREA AROUND 225 PM PORT CHARLOTTE AREA BY 230 PM 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. 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, 13 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 25, 2:10 PM EDT, 13 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, 2:20 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | TBW | DeSoto | 25 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.