Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Melbourne, FL

January 3, 1999Orange County, Seminole County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Jan 3, 1999, 12:10 AM EST for Orange County, Seminole County, Florida. It was in force for 30 min. 3 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: Jan 3, 1999, 12:10 AM EST (05:10 UTC)
Expired: Jan 3, 1999, 12:40 AM EST
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Melbourne, FL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Orange County, FL, Seminole County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:10 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
Jan 3, 12:15 AM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Zellwood, FL	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and power lines in Apopka and Zellwood.
Jan 3, 12:40 AM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Sanford, FL	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees in the Sanford area. The fallen trees damaged two mobile homes and a house.
Jan 3, 12:50 AM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Geneva, FL	Thunderstorm winds overturned a mobile home near Geneva.

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
Jan 2, 9:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 00:00Z, 5.2 hours before the alert went out and 78 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1021 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 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.

999 
WFUS01 KMLB 030511 RRA
TORMLB
FLC095-117-030540-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
1210 AM EST SUN JAN 3 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
     SEMINOLE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA
     ORANGE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 1240 AM EST

* AT 1210 AM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR APOPKA.  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  HEATHROW AND LONGWOOD BY 1220 AM
  LAKE MARY AND SANFORD BY 1230 AM


CARS AND MOBILE HOMES CAN BE TOSSED ABOUT BY TORNADO WINDS. DO NOT
TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR VEHICLE. ABANDON VEHICLES AND MOBILE
HOMES WHEN THREATENED BY A TORNADO AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 2, 11:28 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Lake	62 min
Jan 3, 12:29 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Volusia	61 min
Jan 3, 12:33 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Orange, Osceola, Seminole	62 min
Jan 3, 1:03 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Osceola	32 min
Jan 3, 1:10 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard	60 min
Jan 3, 1:31 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Brevard	49 min
Jan 3, 1:36 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Okeechobee	64 min
Jan 3, 2:29 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Indian River, Saint Lucie	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.