Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 857
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 23, 2008, 7:18 AM EDT for 16 counties in Florida; 11 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 23, 2008, 7:18 AM EDT (11:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 23, 2008, 3:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 27 counties
Alachua County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Columbia County, FL, Dixie County, FL, Gilchrist County, FL, Hamilton County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Jefferson County, FL, Lafayette County, FL, Leon County, FL, Levy County, FL, Madison County, FL, Marion County, FL, Suwannee County, FL, Taylor County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Berrien County, GA, Brooks County, GA, Clinch County, GA, Colquitt County, GA, Cook County, GA, Echols County, GA, Grady County, GA, Lanier County, GA, Lowndes County, GA, Mitchell County, GA, Thomas County, GA
The radar
The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:18 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
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 10%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 30%
Warnings issued inside it
8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 23, 9:58 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor | 2 hr |
| Aug 23, 10:47 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | TAE | Madison, Taylor | 43 min |
| Aug 23, 11:13 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Baker, Decatur, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, Thomas | 2 hr |
| Aug 23, 11:47 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Madison, Taylor | 3 hr |
| Aug 23, 12:24 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Franklin, Gadsden, Leon, Wakulla | 111 min |
| Aug 23, 12:40 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Jefferson, Leon, Madison, Taylor | 110 min |
| Aug 23, 1:13 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Baker, Brooks, Colquitt, Decatur, Grady, Miller and 2 more | 3 hr |
| Aug 23, 2:23 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | TAE | Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon and 4 more | 3 hr |
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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 74 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 111 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 485 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 312 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 431 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.6
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 8:45 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Hamilton and 2 more | 2 hr |
| Aug 23, 6:40 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dixie, Lafayette, Levy, Taylor | 2 hr |
| Aug 23, 11:35 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton and 9 more | 115 min |
| Aug 23, 2:41 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton and 9 more | 2 hr |
| Aug 23, 5:24 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Dixie, Gadsden, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Madison and 2 more | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Florida, 2008Tornado Watches in Georgia, 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.