Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Jacksonville, FL

December 24, 2002Suwannee County, Florida

NWS Jacksonville, FL issued this tornado warning at Dec 24, 2002, 12:28 PM EST for Suwannee County, Florida. It was in force for 92 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Dec 24, 2002, 12:28 PM EST (17:28 UTC)
Expired: Dec 24, 2002, 2:00 PM EST
In force: 92 min
Issued by: NWS Jacksonville, FL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Suwannee County, FL

The radar

The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:30 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
Dec 24, 1:30 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind	Middleburg, FL	Red Oaks 24 inches in diameter downed, broken off 4 feet above the ground. Black Creek area.

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
Dec 24, 9:20 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 61 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: 101 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -110 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 495 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 251 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 285 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

983 
WFUS52 KJAX 241728
TORJAX
FLC121-241815-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
1228 PM EST TUE DEC 24 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL SUWANNEE COUNTY IN NORTHERN FLORIDA

* UNTIL 115 PM EST

* AT 1222 PM EST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF MCALPIN...OR ABOUT 7 MILES SOUTH OF LIVE OAK...MOVING
  EAST AT 30 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THE STORM THROUGH 115 PM EST...
  MCALPIN AND LIVE OAK...
  WELLBORN...

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER OR DAMAGE TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
OR YOUR COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT...OR YOU CAN CALL THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE DIRECTLY AT 904-741-4370 TO REPORT
SEVERE WEATHER.

LAT...LON 3030 8304 3011 8303 3009 8282 3029 8281
$$

SHASHY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 24, 9:56 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		49 min
Dec 24, 10:04 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		56 min
Dec 24, 10:21 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		54 min
Dec 24, 11:05 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		40 min
Dec 24, 11:25 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		50 min
Dec 24, 11:45 AM EST	Special Marine Warning	JAX		3 hr
Dec 24, 11:58 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		47 min
Dec 24, 12:35 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	JAX	Suwannee	115 min
Dec 24, 12:53 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Duval	22 min
Dec 24, 12:55 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Suwannee	50 min
Dec 24, 12:59 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Alachua, Bradford	46 min
Dec 24, 1:01 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Columbia, Union	59 min
Dec 24, 1:12 PM EST	Tornado Warning	JAX	Clay	48 min
Dec 24, 1:55 PM EST	Special Marine Warning	JAX		2 hr
Dec 24, 4:46 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX		44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.