How the NWS issues tornado warnings following the Port St. Lucie tornado
MELBOURNE, Fla. —
Tornadoes are not uncommon here in South Florida, but depending on the time of year, they can form quickly without much time for notice.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne did issue a tornado warning after reports of funnel clouds started to come in Sunday evening.
At the point in which the warning was issued, the tornado had already dissipated, leaving residents with questions. Because this tornado featured very shallow circulation, it was not picked up well by the radar. Reports of the funnel cloud are what then prompted the warning of the EF-0 tornado that became a waterspout at a point.
Will Ulrich, a meteorologist with NWS Melbourne, said, “What made Sunday’s event so unique was that it was on the ground for a little bit. 10-15 minutes is not something that we typically see during the summer months, but it was one of your typical summer afternoon thunderstorms that generated a brief and weak tornado that had winds of 60-70 mph, which is still pretty impactful to communities. And it’s a good reminder that Mother Nature will always throw us curveballs regardless of the time of year.”
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The National Weather Service is in charge of issuing a tornado warning.
“Once the National Weather Service is able to detect a tornado, we will always issue a tornado warning. It is our primary responsibility to do that and then from our office it gets disseminated across a number of avenues that heighten awareness on that tornado warning including wireless emergency alerts, the emergency alert system that will make your television or radio go off or whether you subscribe to an emergency local management or local news channels that info will push to those sites once we issue that tornado warning,” Ulrich said.
The National Weather Service also says to make sure you have multiple ways to receive these warnings to keep you and your loved ones safe.
WPBF 25 News will always be on-air and streaming live online when a tornado warning is issued in our area.
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