Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Melbourne, FL

January 3, 1999Brevard County, Florida

NWS Melbourne, FL issued this tornado warning at Jan 3, 1999, 1:31 AM EST for Brevard County, Florida. It was in force for 49 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: Jan 3, 1999, 1:31 AM EST (06:31 UTC)
Expired: Jan 3, 1999, 2:20 AM EST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Melbourne, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Brevard County, FL

The radar

The Melbourne radar (KMLB), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:35 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, 1:35 AM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Cocoa, FL	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and power lines in Cocoa.

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, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 27 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 030632 RRA
TORMLB
FLC009-030720-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
     BREVARD COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 220 AM EST

* AT 130 AM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO JUST WEST OF I-95 NEAR THE TOWN OF SHARPES.
  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  SHARPES AT 135 AM
  MERRITT ISLAND AT 140 AM
  CAPE CANAVERAL AT 150 AM

ANOTHER POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS FORMING JUST WEST OF VIERA HEADING
TOWARDS COCOA BEACH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE
HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
THE SAFEST PLACE IS AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF A STRONG BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS.

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, 12:10 AM EST	Tornado Warning	MLB	Orange, Seminole	30 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, 1:36 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.