Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 70
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 16, 2026, 1:33 PM EDT for 16 counties in Florida; Camden County, Charlton County, Glynn County, Georgia. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 16, 2026, 1:33 PM EDT (17:33 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 16, 2026, 5:21 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Alachua County, FL, Baker County, FL, Bradford County, FL, Citrus County, FL, Clay County, FL, Duval County, FL, Flagler County, FL, Hernando County, FL, Levy County, FL, Marion County, FL, Nassau County, FL, Pasco County, FL, Putnam County, FL, Saint Johns County, FL, Sumter County, FL, Union County, FL, Camden County, GA, Charlton County, GA, Glynn County, GA
The radar
The Jacksonville radar (KJAX), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:36 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
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 1:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Clay, Putnam, Saint Johns | 21 min |
| Mar 16, 2:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Camden, Glynn | 19 min |
| Mar 16, 2:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Flagler, Putnam, Saint Johns | 37 min |
| Mar 16, 2:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Alachua, Marion, Putnam | 49 min |
| Mar 16, 2:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Clay, Duval, Nassau, Saint Johns | 31 min |
| Mar 16, 2:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Alachua, Bradford, Clay, Putnam, Saint Johns | 58 min |
| Mar 16, 3:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TBW | Citrus, Hernando, Sumter | 39 min |
| Mar 16, 3:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Marion, Putnam | 43 min |
| Mar 16, 3:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Flagler, Putnam | 42 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
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 40 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
- 554 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -98 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 839 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 194 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 203 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 5.9
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 3:37 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton, Washington | 113 min |
| Mar 16, 4:10 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Holmes, Jackson, Okaloosa and 3 more | 8 hr |
| Mar 16, 7:54 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson and 4 more | 96 min |
| Mar 16, 7:59 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf and 9 more | 7 hr |
| Mar 16, 10:36 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Columbia, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf and 9 more | 84 min |
| Mar 16, 12:49 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie and 14 more | 86 min |
| Mar 16, 1:58 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brevard, Broward, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry and 13 more | 62 min |
| Mar 15, 9:22 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd and 6 more | 9 hr |
| Mar 15, 11:54 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dade | 2 hr |
| Mar 16, 4:21 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Rabun, Towns, Union | 114 min |
| Mar 16, 4:36 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Lincoln, Rabun and 1 more | 6 hr |
| Mar 16, 6:01 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 41 more | 89 min |
| Mar 16, 7:23 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Butts, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Crawford and 28 more | 97 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Florida, 2026Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026
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.