Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 105

March 7, 200818 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 7, 2008, 11:59 AM EST for 18 counties in Florida. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 7, 2008, 11:59 AM EST (16:59 UTC)
Expired
Mar 7, 2008, 6:39 PM EST
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Brevard County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lake County, FL, Levy County, FL, Marion County, FL, Orange County, FL, Osceola County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Polk County, FL, Putnam County, FL, Saint Johns County, FL, Seminole County, FL, Sumter County, FL, Volusia County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:11 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 7, 12:25 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXFlagler, Saint Johns50 min
Mar 7, 1:25 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAlachua, Bradford, Clay, Marion, Putnam65 min
Mar 7, 1:49 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXMarion41 min
Mar 7, 2:00 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXFlagler, Putnam, Saint Johns60 min
Mar 7, 2:14 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTBWCitrus, Levy61 min
Mar 7, 2:28 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXMarion, Putnam62 min
Mar 7, 3:09 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJAXAlachua, Marion51 min
Mar 7, 3:25 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBVolusia50 min
Mar 7, 3:55 PM ESTTornado WarningMLBVolusia20 min
Mar 7, 4:03 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMLBSeminole, Volusia57 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

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 12:00Z, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 162 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2008-03-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1005 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Cape Canaveral, FL at 12:00Z on 2008-03-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 214 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
1005 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
280 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
7.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 7, 3:49 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 8 more86 min
Mar 7, 6:13 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Citrus and 35 more2 hr
Mar 7, 6:45 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCAlachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 21 more5 hr
Mar 7, 11:29 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCitrus, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Marion and 10 more2 hr
Mar 7, 3:10 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCitrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Orange, Pasco and 4 more95 min
Mar 7, 5:50 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrevard, Charlotte, DeSoto, Flagler, Glades, Hardee and 19 more55 min
Mar 7, 6:35 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCBrevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee and 19 more7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008

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.