Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2000

Tornado Watch 740

September 17, 200012 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Sep 17, 2000, 4:30 AM EDT for 12 counties in Florida. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Sep 17, 2000, 4:30 AM EDT (08:30 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2000, 11:00 AM EDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Charlotte County, FL, Collier County, FL, DeSoto County, FL, Hardee County, FL, Hendry County, FL, Highlands County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lee County, FL, Manatee County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Polk County, FL, Sarasota County, FL

Warnings issued inside it

4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 4:55 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, Sarasota	35 min
Sep 17, 5:28 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Charlotte, Sarasota	47 min
Sep 17, 5:45 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	TBW	Lee	45 min
Sep 17, 10:39 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	MFL	Glades, Hendry	36 min

The nearest sounding before it

Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 00:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 65 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: 238 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 927 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 293 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

853 
WWUS9 KMKC 170814
SEL0  

SEL0  
MKC WW 170807
FLZ000-CWZ000-171500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 740
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
407 AM EDT SUN SEP 17 2000

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   WESTERN FLORIDA                            
   AND COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY MORNING FROM 430 AM UNTIL 1100 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF SAINT PETERSBURG FLORIDA
TO 55 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF FORT MEYERS FLORIDA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

DISCUSSION...SURFACE ANALYSIS INDICATES BAROCLINIC ZONE LYING
ACROSS SRN FL NEAR OR JUST S OF NAPLES.  THIS BOUNDARY IS LIKELY TO
MOVE SLOWLY NWD AS INDICATED BY PRESSURE FALL AXIS AND BE A FOCUS
FOR POTENTIAL TORNADO DEVELOPMENT AS ROTATING SUPERCELLS DEVELOPING
EWD FROM GULF OF MEXICO CROSS BOUNDARY.  

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH EXTREME
TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI
WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 18035.

...JOHNS

255,0821 280,0825 280,0813 255,0805

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 8:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Brevard, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Orange and 2 more	3 hr
Sep 17, 11:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alachua, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus and 35 more	9 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2000 Every tornado watch in 2000

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.