Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Melbourne, FL

August 31, 1999Saint Lucie County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Aug 31, 1999, 2:03 PM EDT for Saint Lucie County, Florida. It was in force for 32 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: Aug 31, 1999, 2:03 PM EDT (18:03 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1999, 2:35 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Melbourne, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Saint Lucie County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:03 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

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 121 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: 1576 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 768 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 58 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.

000 
TTAA00 KMLB 311804 RRA
TORMLB
FLC111-311835-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
203 PM EDT TUE AUG 31 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
     ST. LUCIE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 235 PM EDT

* AT 156 PM... A COUNTY OFFICIAL REPORTED A WATERSPOUT JUST NORTH OF
  THE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT.  MOVEMENT WAS WEST AT 5 MPH.


 THE WATERSPOUT IS EXPECTED TO COME NONSHORE BETWEEN
  WHITE CITY AND WALTON BY 215 PM.


IF A WATERSPOUT APPROACHES YOU ON LAND FROM OPEN WATER...SEEK
SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN THE INTERIOR OF A NEARBY STRONG BUILDING.

&&
WIMMER

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 Melbourne, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 31, 9:20 AM EDT, 4 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 9:20 AM EDT, 4 hours 43 minutes before

EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
920 AM EDT TUE AUG 31 1999

CURRENTLY...SURFACE TROUGH VERY EVIDENT IN MAPS ANALYSIS AS LOW
LEVEL NORTHEAST WINDS HAD INCREASED ACROSS THE NORTH HALF OF THE
AREA AND SURFACE WINDS TO THE SOUTH WERE LIGHT MOSTLY FROM A
SOUTHERLY DIRECTION.  DEW POINTS EVEN WERE IN THE 60S JUST NORTH OF
THE AREA.  THIS WAS SETTING UP A ZONE OF GOOD LOW LEVEL
CONVERGENCE.  LATEST CANAVERAL PROFILER SHOWING THAT EASTERLY FLOW
WAS ONLY ABOUT 3 THOUSAND FEET DEEP...SO THE SHOWERS ALONG THE COAST
WERE NOT MOVING INLAND...BUT THE AREA WAS REMAINING NEARLY
STATIONARY WITH CELLS DRIFTING TO THE NORTHEAST.

THIS AFTERNOON...WITH THE NEARLY STATIONARY BOUNDARY IN THE
AREA...WILL HAVE TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINS...
ESPECIALLY THE BREVARD COAST.  POPS WILL HAVE TO BE BUMPED UP IN THE
VICINITY OF THE BOUNDARY.  TEMPS WILL BE ADJUSTED DOWN DUE TO CLOUD
COVER.

MARINE...00Z MODELS DID NOT REALLY PICK UP ON THE INCREASE IN THE
GRADIENT BEHIND THE TROUGH/FRONT.  LATEST BUOY DATA WAS SHOWING 15
TO 20 KNOT WINDS.  WITH THIS IN MIND AND GIVEN THAT THERE ARE STILL
SWELLS OCCURRING...A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY LOOKS IN ORDER FOR THE
NORTHERN LEG.

.MLB...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FLAGLER BEACH TO COCOA BEACH.

LASCODY

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.