Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2024
Tornado Watch 243
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 15, 2024, 2:47 AM EDT for 19 counties in Florida. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 15, 2024, 2:47 AM EDT (06:47 UTC)
- Expired
- May 15, 2024, 10:54 AM EDT
- In force
- 8 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, Manatee 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), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:47 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
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
9 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 3:21 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Marion, Putnam | 39 min |
| May 15, 3:26 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake, Volusia | 49 min |
| May 15, 3:32 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Flagler | 58 min |
| May 15, 4:06 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake, Volusia | 54 min |
| May 15, 4:10 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MLB | Lake, Volusia | 50 min |
| May 15, 4:12 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | JAX | Flagler | 33 min |
| May 15, 4:21 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Sumter | 24 min |
| May 15, 4:25 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake | 32 min |
| May 15, 6:09 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Lake, Volusia | 36 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 00:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 161 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
- 2458 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1105 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 168 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 212 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.7
- Supercell composite
- 19.9
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 1:45 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 19 more | 2 hr |
| May 15, 4:58 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Marion and 5 more | 92 min |
| May 15, 8:36 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Brevard, Citrus, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee and 19 more | 84 min |
| May 15, 10:52 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alachua, Brevard, Citrus, DeSoto, Flagler, Gilchrist and 21 more | 5 hr |
| May 15, 1:15 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Brevard, Citrus, Clay, DeSoto, Flagler and 21 more | 90 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.