Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 191
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 7, 2026, 9:50 AM CDT for Escambia County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Florida. It was in force for 2 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 7, 2026, 9:50 AM CDT (14:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 2026, 12:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 2 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Escambia County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:50 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
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- 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
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 9:56 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Escambia, Santa Rosa | 38 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
Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 254 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
- 2067 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 484 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 70 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 215 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.8
- Supercell composite
- 9.6
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 10:58 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa | 9 hr |
| May 7, 1:38 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton | 97 min |
| May 7, 1:58 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes and 7 more | 11 hr |
| May 7, 4:20 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Holmes, Jackson | 115 min |
| May 7, 7:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Escambia, Gadsden, Holmes, Jackson, Leon and 4 more | 86 min |
| May 7, 9:39 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Escambia, Okaloosa, Walton | 66 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.