Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 69

April 7, 201411 counties in Florida; 4 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 7, 2014, 3:33 PM EDT for 11 counties in Florida; 4 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 7, 2014, 3:33 PM EDT (19:33 UTC)
Expired: Apr 7, 2014, 9:08 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Dixie County, FL, Franklin County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Jefferson County, FL, Lafayette County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Madison County, FL, Taylor County, FL, Wakulla County, FL, Brooks County, GA, Grady County, GA, Lowndes County, GA, Thomas County, GA

The radar

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 10 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:35 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: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
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: 60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 7, 3:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Franklin, Gulf, Liberty	31 min
Apr 7, 5:23 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Jefferson, Leon	37 min
Apr 7, 6:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Madison	49 min
Apr 7, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Lanier, Lowndes	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 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 10 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: 7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -158 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1052 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 283 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 339 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.

595 
WWUS20 KWNS 071931
SEL9  
SPC WW 071931
FLZ000-GAZ000-CWZ000-080300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 69
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
330 PM EDT MON APR 7 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  NORTHERN FLORIDA INCLUDING THE EASTERN PANHANDLE
  SOUTHWEST GEORGIA
  COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 330 PM UNTIL
  1100 PM EDT.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  SEVERAL TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  SEVERAL DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 45 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF VALDOSTA
GEORGIA TO 5 MILES SOUTH OF APALACHICOLA FLORIDA.  FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU9).

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 67...WW 68...

DISCUSSION...LONG-LIVED QLCS WITH EMBEDDED BOWING/LEWP STRUCTURES
WILL CONTINUE SLOWLY EASTWARD ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. GIVEN THE PRESENCE OF STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR AND A
MOIST/LOW LCL BOUNDARY LAYER...THE POTENTIAL WILL EXIST FOR
MESOVORTEX-RELATED TORNADOES AND LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS.

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 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25030.


...MEAD

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 6, 11:10 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton	2 hr
Apr 7, 1:50 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa	25 min
Apr 7, 2:16 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa	7 hr
Apr 7, 6:42 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Gadsden, Holmes, Jackson and 7 more	2 hr
Apr 7, 8:46 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 13 more	7 hr
Apr 7, 11:04 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Columbia, Franklin, Gadsden and 15 more	116 min
Apr 7, 1:45 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Duval and 10 more	60 min
Apr 7, 2:02 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Hamilton, Suwannee	7 hr
Apr 7, 3:00 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Lafayette and 5 more	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 2014 Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2014 Every tornado watch in 2014

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.