Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 770

November 16, 200214 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 16, 2002, 3:10 PM EST for 14 counties in Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Nov 16, 2002, 3:10 PM EST (20:10 UTC)
Expired: Nov 16, 2002, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Brevard County, FL, Broward County, FL, Collier County, FL, Glades County, FL, Hendry County, FL, Highlands County, FL, Indian River County, FL, Martin County, FL, Miami-Dade County, FL, Monroe County, FL, Okeechobee County, FL, Osceola County, FL, Palm Beach County, FL, Saint Lucie County, FL

The radar

The Miami radar (KAMX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:10 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.

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 16, 3:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MLB	Brevard	58 min
Nov 16, 4:16 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Collier, Monroe	59 min
Nov 16, 4:53 PM EST	Tornado Warning	MFL	Collier, Hendry, Palm Beach	37 min
Nov 16, 5:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe	56 min
Nov 16, 5:51 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MFL	Broward, Miami-Dade	69 min
Nov 16, 7:44 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EYW	Monroe	31 min

The nearest sounding before it

Miami, FL (KMFL), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 67 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: 471 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 919 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 109 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 162011
SEL0  
SPC WW 162010
FLZ000-CWZ000-170200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 770
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
310 PM EST SAT NOV 16 2002

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

   SOUTHERN FLORIDA                            
   COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 310 PM UNTIL 900
PM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO
70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 85 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF MIAMI FLORIDA TO 25
MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF MELBOURNE 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 769.  WATCH NUMBER 769 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 310 PM
EST.

DISCUSSION...CONDITIONS REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS IN
WARM SECTOR ACROSS SRN FL AHEAD OF COLD FRONT APPROACHING FROM THE
ERN GULF.  WITH THE SHEAR PROFILES FORECASTED TO STRENGHTEN NEXT
FEW HOURS WITH APPROACH OF STRONG UPPER TROUGH...THREAT OF SEVERE
STORMS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL CONTINUE ACROSS SRN FL.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH...EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23030.


...HALES

282,0793 243,0800 243,0813 282,0811

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 16, 10:30 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Broward, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry and 9 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2002 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.