Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

May 18, 1999Hillsborough County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1999, 6:26 PM EDT for Hillsborough County, Florida. It was in force for 34 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
May 18, 1999, 6:26 PM EDT (22:26 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 1999, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Tampa Bay, FL
Area
Whole counties

County Hillsborough County, FL

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 23 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 1999-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tampa Bay, FL at 12:00Z on 1999-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 3 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
997 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
30 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 182230 RRA
TORTBW
FLC057-182300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY AREA - RUSKIN FL
626 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RUSKIN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 623 PM...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY EMERGENCY OFFICIALS NEAR 22ND
  AVENUE AND ADAMO IN TAMPA AROUND 615 PM.  MOVEMENT WAS SOUTH AT 15
  MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
  NEAR GIBSONTON AROUND 635 PM
  NEAR APOLLO BEACH AROUND 640 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.

GOLDSMITH/ZALESKI

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 18, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 2:55 PM EDT, 3 hours 31 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY-RUSKIN FL
255 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 1999

.CURRENTLY...FEW LOWER CLOUDS CONTINUE MOVING ACROSS FA WITH
SHOWERS JUST BEYOND OUR EASTERN BORDER ALONG...SUMTER...POLK...
AND HIGHLANDS. WHILE ZONES DO NOT CARRY ANY POPS FEEL THREAT
OF PCPN IS LOW ENOUGH THAT NOWCASTS CAN TAKE CARE OF REST OF
AFTERNOON.

.DISCUSSION...H5 LOW OFF SE U.S. TO GET PICKED UP BY SHORT WAVE
TROF OVER GREAT LAKES WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDING INTO
GULF KEEPING NW UPPER FLOW THROUGH PERIOD. SFC RIDGE ALONG EAST
SEABOARD WILL SHIFT AND BECOME EAST-WEST OVER SOUTHERN HALF OF
THE STATE AS FRONT MOVES INTO THE PANHANDLE...REACHING NORTH FL
WED MORNING AND THEN SLOWLY CREEPING INTO NORTH-CENTRAL FL
BY THURSDAY MORNING. WITH SLIGHT INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND IN-
STABILITY AHEAD OF FRONT FA CAN SEE MORE SHOWERS WED THAN
TODAY...WITH 20 POP FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL COAST AND 30 POP INLAND
AND SOUTH. WOULD EXPECT MOST SHOWERS TO BE AFTERNOON ALONG SEA
BREEZE. FRONT TO LINGER THURSDAY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS
AGAIN EXPECT IN THE AFTERNOON BUT SLIGHTLY LESS THAN ON WED.
GENERALLY ACCEPT FWC/FAN TEMPS.

TPA 068/088/066/088 09121
FMY 069/089/069/090 09131

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 6:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWHillsborough28 min

Nearby

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