Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 183
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 2, 2026, 11:27 AM EDT for 21 counties in Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 2, 2026, 11:27 AM EDT (15:27 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 2026, 5:01 PM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
All 21 counties
Alachua County, FL, Bradford County, FL, Brevard County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Clay County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Hillsborough County, FL, Lake County, FL, Levy 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), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:26 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
- 10%
- 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
7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 1:05 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Alachua, Marion, Putnam | 25 min |
| May 2, 1:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Orange, Seminole | 30 min |
| May 2, 1:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Orange, Seminole, Volusia | 34 min |
| May 2, 2:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Brevard, Seminole, Volusia | 40 min |
| May 2, 2:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Hillsborough, Pinellas | 34 min |
| May 2, 2:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MLB | Brevard | 29 min |
| May 2, 3:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Pinellas | 27 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, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 141 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
- 14 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -395 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1203 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 225 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 263 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 5:03 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Franklin, Gulf, Taylor, Wakulla | 117 min |
| May 2, 8:12 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 9 more | 93 min |
| May 2, 1:57 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brevard, Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake and 10 more | 93 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.