Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

May 28, 1999Sumter County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at May 28, 1999, 5:48 PM EDT for Sumter County, Florida. It was in force for 27 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: May 28, 1999, 5:48 PM EDT (21:48 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1999, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area: Whole counties

County Sumter County, FL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 28, 5:52 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Wildwood, FL	Sumter county sheriffs department and emergency management reported that thunderstorm winds caused minor roof and awning damage to six homes and downed numerous trees and power lines which blocked County Roads 114, 116, 117, 118, 121, 125, 153, 155, 163 and 46

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 nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 116 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: 45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -88 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 911 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 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 
WFUS1 KTBW 282150 RRA
TORTBW
FLC119-282215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
548 PM EDT FRI MAY 28 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SUMTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

* AT 545 PM...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
  DOPPLER RADAR 3 MILES EAST OF WILDWOOD.  MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.


* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
  COUNTY ROAD 466A AROUND 550 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM
NEED TO TAKE COVER IN A STURDY BUILDING. MOBILE HOMES AND CARS ARE
NOT SAFE.

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 May 28, 2:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:30 PM EDT, 3 hours 18 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN FL
230 PM EDT FRI MAY 28 1999

NO SIG CHANGES TO EARLIER THINKING ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE MEM WKND
PATN.  EXITING ERN SEABOARD TROF WILL ALLOW SE U.S. RDGG TO AMPLIFY
A BIT FARTHER N WHICH WILL AID IN A SLOW SE SHIFT OF THE SFC HIGH
NOW OVER THE TN/OH VLY.  AS IT DOES...INCREASED ESE LOW LVL FLOW
WILL ENHANCE WCSB COLLISION A BIT NEARER THE COAST SAT AFTN.  ACTION
ON SUNDAY MAY BE CONFINED TO COASTAL COS AS E TO SE FLOW DOMINATES
ALL THE WAY UP TO 750 MB AND PERHAPS ABV.

ETA/RAFS FINALLY IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH SYNOPTIC FEATURES THIS PKG.
FOR A CHANGE...THE RAFS HAS CAUGHT ON TO THE WCSB IN ITS SFC-BLYR
WIND FIELDS THRU SAT AFTN.  BY SUN MORNING...THE ETA AND RAFS DEPICT
FAIRLY LONG-FETCH ESE FLOW AT THE SFC.  AVN CONTINUES THIS TREND
DURG THE AFTN.

NEAR-TERM: PVSLY ADVTZD WCSB/ECSB COLLISION OCCURING FM ERN POLK
THRU CNTL HIGHLANDS CO ATTM.  A HINT OF LOW LVL CIRCULATION EXISTS
FARTHER S BASED ON SE FLOW NEAR MIAMI.  BLDG CU APPARENT ALONG AND
JUST W OF OKEECHOBEE...AND FM SARASOTA CO S ALONG THE WCSB.
REMAINDER OF FCST AREA IS QUIET.  SOME ACTIVITY SHOULD BEGIN BY 4 PM
ALONG EACH BDRY.  W FLOW FM H85-H70 WILL ALLOW AN INLAND PUSH.  SUGG
NO EVENING POPS COASTAL COS...AND 20 POPS (WDLY SCT) INLAND COS.

SHORT-TERM:  REMAINDER OF TNGT...MODELS STILL SHOWING SOME UPR JET
DYNAMICS AND LOW-MID LVL LIFT INLAND BY 06Z.  HOWEVER...WITH WINDS
GOING NEAR CALM INLAND BLV ANY EVENING ACTIVITY WILL BE OVER BEFORE
MIDNIGHT.  SUGG PCLDY OR FAIR WITH ABUNDANT THIN BKN-OVC CI FM
SUBTRPCL JET AND REMNANT CONVECTIVE DEBRIS.  TEMPS MU 60S
INLAND...A70 COAST.

SAT...UPR DYNAMICS REMAIN WEAK.  H50 TEMPS ARE COMPARABLE TO THIS
AFTN...SO SVR THREAT IS LIMITED.  STILL...ENHANCING ECSB SHOULD MEET
WITH DVLPG WCSB ALONG TROF AXIS FM LEE CO THRU THE TAMPA METRO AREA
AND UP THE COAST LATE IN THE DAY.  EXPECT PCPN TO DVLP INLAND AND
MIGRATE TWDS THE COAST AS H85-H75 FLOW TURNS TO THE SE.  SUGG PTLY
SUNNY WITH 30 POP COAST/40 POP INLAND.  SEASONABLE TEMPS.

SAT NIGHT...WOULD PLAY IT SAFE WITH 20 POPS EVERYWHERE FOR EVENING
WDLY SCT SHWR/TSTM.  THEN...BECMG PTLY CLDY THRUT WITH TEMPS PERHAPS
A SMIDGE HIGHER THAN TNGT WITH A BIT MORE E FLOW.

SUN...STRENGTHENING E FLOW MAY VERY WELL ACTIVATE ONLY THE COASTAL
COS.  STILL...CANT RULE OUT POPS OVER INLAND AREAS SINCE LOW LVL SE
FLOW RELATIVELY WEAK.  SUGG 40 POPS COASTAL COS...30 POPS
INLAND...WITH PRTLY SUNNY SKIES AGAIN AND SEASONABLE TEMPS.

MARINE:  BECOMING NE 5-10 KT TNGT...THEN E 10 KT WITH AN ONSHORE BRZ
BY AFTN ALSO AROUND 10 KT.  SAT NIGHT MORE OF AN E OR SE FLOW AT 10
KT...INCREASING TO 10-15 KT SUN.

EXTENDED:  12Z AVN SHOWS DECENT S/W DIVING INTO THE CNTL GLFMEX BY
EARLY MON...AND H50 TEMPS PROGGED TO FALL BLO -10.  ACTIVITY MAY
CRANK INTO THE PANHANDLE DUE TO SYNOPTIC FRCG...AND ALONG/NEAR THE
COAST WITH CONTINUE SE FLOW.  TUE AND WED COULD PROVIDE MORE
WIDESPREAD ACTIVITY AS UPR FLOW TURNS TO THE S/SW.

SOME NUMBERS...

BKV 064/088/066/087 -42
TPA 072/087/071/088 -32
LAL 068/088/069/088 142
SRQ 068/086/069/088 -32
FMY 070/090/072/090 -32 88

GOLDSMITH

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 28, 5:40 PM EDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FLORIDA
540 PM EDT FRI MAY 28 1999

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0552 PM    2 NNE WILDWOOD            FL   WIND DAMAGE
TO         TO                             SUMTER S.O. REPORTED TOTAL
0605 PM    5 SE WILDWOOD                  ROAD BLOCKAGE FROM NUMEROUS
05/28/99   SUMTER                         DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          ALONG COUNTY ROADS 114...117
                                          ...125...163 AND 468.

ZALESKI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 7:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Polk	27 min
May 28, 7:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TBW	Polk	34 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.