Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 25

February 27, 200319 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 27, 2003, 5:55 AM EST for 19 counties in Florida. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 27, 2003, 5:55 AM EST (10:55 UTC)
Expired: Feb 27, 2003, 11:00 AM EST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Alachua County, FL, Baker County, FL, Bradford County, FL, Clay County, FL, Columbia County, FL, Dixie County, FL, Duval County, FL, Gilchrist County, FL, Hamilton County, FL, Lafayette County, FL, Levy County, FL, Madison County, FL, Marion County, FL, Nassau County, FL, Putnam County, FL, Saint Johns County, FL, Suwannee County, FL, Taylor County, FL, Union County, FL

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 27, 8:26 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Gilchrist	49 min
Feb 27, 8:52 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAX	Alachua	23 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), launched 00:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 129 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 869 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 101 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.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 271055
SEL5
SPC WW 271055
FLZ000-CWZ000-271600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 25
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
555 AM EST THU FEB 27 2003

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

   NORTH FLORIDA                            
   COASTAL WATERS                     

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING FROM 555 AM UNTIL 1100 AM 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 100 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CROSS CITY FLORIDA TO 10 MILES
NORTH OF JACKSONVILLE 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...THUNDERSTORMS/SUPERCELLS DEVELOPING ON SRN END OF
CONVECTIVE BAND ASSOCIATED WITH SRN STREAM IMPULSE MOVING E FROM AL
WILL HAVE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE ISOLATED TORNADOES/DAMAGING WIND
GUSTS THROUGH LATER THIS MORNING.  WHILE SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY
IS RATHER WEAK /LIFTED INDICES AROUND ZERO TO MINUS 1/...LONG
HODOGRAPHS ORIENTED ROUGHLY PARALLEL TO WARM/STATIONARY FRONT
ACROSS REGION SHOULD ALLOW FOR A COUPLE LONG-LIVED STORMS. 

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 450. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26040.

...CORFIDI

290,0851 303,0832 303,0800 290,0815

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 27, 3:31 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bay	119 min
Feb 27, 5:24 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 7 more	2 hr
Feb 27, 8:00 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 13 more	2 hr
Feb 27, 10:26 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 13 more	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2003 Every tornado watch in 2003

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.