Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2014
Tornado Watch 556
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 17, 2014, 12:30 PM EST for 22 counties in Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Nov 17, 2014, 12:30 PM EST (17:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Nov 17, 2014, 6:09 PM EST
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 22 counties
Brevard County, FL, Charlotte County, FL, Citrus County, FL, DeSoto County, FL, Hardee County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Highlands County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lake County, FL, Lee County, FL, Levy County, FL, Manatee County, FL, Marion County, FL, Orange County, FL, Osceola County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Pinellas County, FL, Polk County, FL, Sarasota County, FL, Seminole County, FL, Sumter County, FL, Volusia County, FL
The radar
The Tampa radar (KTBW), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:33 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
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 10%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
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 17, 12:36 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Levy | 54 min |
| Nov 17, 1:24 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Citrus, Hernando, Levy, Pasco, Sumter | 66 min |
| Nov 17, 1:25 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Alachua, Bradford, Clay, Flagler, Marion, Putnam and 1 more | 65 min |
| Nov 17, 2:28 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Flagler, Marion, Putnam, Saint Johns | 32 min |
| Nov 17, 3:01 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake, Orange, Seminole | 29 min |
| Nov 17, 3:30 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Brevard, Orange, Osceola | 60 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
Tampa Bay, FL (KTBW), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 88 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
- 152 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -104 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 702 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 251 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 278 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
975 WWUS20 KWNS 171735 SEL6 SPC WW 171735 FLZ000-CWZ000-180100- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 556 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1230 PM EST MON NOV 17 2014 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN...NORTHERN...AND CENTRAL FLORIDA COASTAL WATERS * EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1230 PM UNTIL 800 PM EST. * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE SCATTERED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF OCALA FLORIDA TO 30 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF SARASOTA FLORIDA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 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...CONTINUE...WW 553...WW 554...WW 555... DISCUSSION...PARTS OF NW GULF OF MEXICO SQLN ARE NEARLY CO-LOCATED WITH ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT. SQLN SHOULD CONTINUE GENERALLY ESE ACROSS THE NRN HALF OF THE FL PENINSULA...WITH PROPAGATIONAL COMPONENT OF MOTION SUGGESTING PERHAPS A SWD TURN IN THE DIRECTION OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRONGEST STORMS. LOW-LVL DIRECTIONAL SHEAR DECREASES WITH SWD EXTENT...AND SHOULD DECREASE WITH TIME. NEVERTHELESS...GIVEN PRESENCE OF EXISTING MESO-CIRCULATIONS WITHIN THE SQLN...AND QUALITY OF MOISTURE RETURN OVER THE WRN GULF /PW APPROACHING 2 INCHES/...SOME RISK MAY EXIST FOR A COUPLE TORNADOES...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE FL W CST...BEFORE LOCALLY DMGG WINDS BECOME THE PREDOMINANT SVR THREAT. 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 25035. ...CORFIDI
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 17, 12:50 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Escambia, Santa Rosa | 55 min |
| Nov 17, 2:13 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 12 more | 32 min |
| Nov 17, 2:32 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 9 more | 7 hr |
| Nov 17, 5:39 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden and 14 more | 66 min |
| Nov 17, 6:11 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson and 7 more | 8 hr |
| Nov 17, 8:43 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden and 15 more | 92 min |
| Nov 17, 10:57 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler and 5 more | 4 hr |
| Nov 17, 12:14 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brevard, Citrus, Dixie, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough and 11 more | 2 hr |
| Nov 17, 3:10 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee and 5 more | 65 min |
Nearby
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.