Alert archive / Florida / Red Flag Warnings in 2009

Red Flag Warning 46, NWS Tampa Bay, FL

April 15, 2009Polk County, Sumter County, Florida

NWS Tampa Bay, FL issued this red flag warning at Apr 15, 2009, 5:13 AM EDT for Polk County, Sumter County, Florida. It took effect at Apr 15, 2009, 1:00 PM EDT. It was in force for 6 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 15, 2009, 5:13 AM EDT (09:13 UTC)
In effect from: Apr 15, 2009, 1:00 PM EDT
Expired: Apr 15, 2009, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Tampa Bay, FL

Counties Polk County, FL, Sumter County, FL

The radar

The Tampa radar (KTBW), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:14 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Cape Canaveral, FL (KXMR), launched 00:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -371 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2250 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this red flag warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tampa Bay, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this red flag warning went out at Apr 14, 1:21 PM EDT, 15 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 1:21 PM EDT, 15 hours 52 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 14, 5:47 AM EDT, 23 hours 26 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAMPA BAY RUSKIN FL
547 AM EDT TUE APR 14 2009

FLZ039-042-043-048>052-055>057-060>062-065-141430-
LEVY-CITRUS-SUMTER-HERNANDO-PASCO-PINELLAS-HILLSBOROUGH-POLK-
MANATEE-HARDEE-HIGHLANDS-SARASOTA-DE SOTO-CHARLOTTE-LEE-
547 AM EDT TUE APR 14 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

...THUNDERSTORM IMPACT...
NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA
TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AS THE WARM AND MOIST ENVIRONMENT
COMBINES WITH UPPER LEVEL ENERGY. STRONGER STORMS MAY CONTAIN
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...SMALL HAIL AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL PUSH SOUTH OF THE AREA TONIGHT AS THE FRONT
MOVES THROUGH THE STATE.

...HIGH WIND IMPACT...
WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS LATE THIS
MORNING AND REMAIN STRONG THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. CONDITIONS
ON AREA LAKES WILL BE ROUGH FOR SMALL WATER CRAFT.

...RIP CURRENT IMPACT...
THERE WILL BE A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS TODAY AT AREA
BEACHES WITH THE STRONG SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS.

A RIP CURRENT IS A 10 TO 30 YARD WIDE CHANNEL OF WATER THAT CAN
PULL EVEN A STRONG SWIMMER INTO DEEPER WATER.

TO AVOID GETTING CAUGHT IN A RIP CURRENT...SWIM AT GUARDED
BEACHES AND HEED THE ADVICE OF THE BEACH PATROL. AT UNGUARDED
BEACHES AND NEAR PIERS...JETTIES...AND INLETS...DO NOT GO INTO THE
SURF MUCH ABOVE YOUR KNEES.

IF CAUGHT IN THE SEAWARD PULL OF A RIP CURRENT...DO NOT ATTEMPT
TO MOVE DIRECTLY TOWARD SHORE. INSTEAD...MOVE SIDEWAYS ACROSS THE
RIP CURRENT UNTIL THE PULL EASES. ANOTHER METHOD OF ESCAPE IS TO
LET THE RIP CURRENT PULL YOU SEAWARD 50 TO 100 YARDS...WHERE THE
FORCE WEAKENS. THEN...SWIM TOWARD THE BEACH AT AN ANGLE AWAY FROM
THE CURRENT.

...WIND AND SEA IMPACT...
WINDS WILL BE 20 TO 25 KNOTS WITH HIGHER GUSTS ACROSS THE COASTAL
WATERS TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT. THIS WILL ALLOW SEAS TO BUILD UP TO
7 FEET WELL OFFSHORE. SMALL CRAFT OPERATORS SHOULD POSTPONE TRIPS
UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

...FIRE WEATHER IMPACT...
COOLER AND DRIER AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA WEDNESDAY BEHIND THE
FRONT AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. A COUPLE OF HOURS
OF CRITICAL HUMIDITIES WILL BE POSSIBLE MAINLY ACROSS INLAND AREAS
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE INTO
THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH A FEW HOURS OF CRITICAL HUMIDITIES
POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER AND SELF ACTIVATE IF NEEDED.

COLSON

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Florida, 2009 Every red flag warning in 2009

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.