Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

January 23, 1998Hardee County, Highlands County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at Jan 23, 1998, 10:33 AM EST for Hardee County, Highlands County, Florida. It was in force for 47 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: Jan 23, 1998, 10:33 AM EST (15:33 UTC)
Expired: Jan 23, 1998, 11:20 AM EST
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hardee County, FL, Highlands County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:34 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jan 23, 9:15 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 158 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1021 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

034 
WFUS1 KTBW 231534 RRA
TORTBW
FLC049-055-231620-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
1033 AM EST FRI JAN 23 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1120 AM EST FOR

...HARDEE COUNTY
...HIGHLANDS COUNTY


AT 1030 AM EST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN RUSKIN
INDICATED A TORNADO OVER NORTHERN HIGHLANDS COUNTYT NORTHEAST OF THE
AVON PARK/SEBRING AREA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS TORNADO WILL
BE APPROACHING THE AVON PARK BOMBING RANGE.

ANOTHER TORNADO WAS LOCATED IN HARDEE COUNTY ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF ZOLFO SPRINGS. THIS TORNADO WAS ALSO MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

ALL RESIDENTS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

THESE ARE DANGEROUS STORMS ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF
THESE TORNADOES GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
AVOID WINDOWS AND DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY
BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 8:24 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Pinellas
Jan 23, 8:25 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota	60 min
Jan 23, 8:46 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pinellas	49 min
Jan 23, 8:50 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hardee	45 min
Jan 23, 9:23 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	DeSoto, Hardee	47 min
Jan 23, 9:28 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Hillsborough, Pasco	47 min
Jan 23, 9:38 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Highlands	47 min
Jan 23, 9:49 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	46 min
Jan 23, 10:42 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	48 min
Jan 23, 11:51 AM EST	Tornado Warning	TBW	Polk	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.