11/30/08 DISC: FL

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Bryan, TX
In Palm Bay, FL, which is adjacent to Melbourne, FL a suspected tornado is being investigated. A witness reported the usual "train" sound (which a lot of us lucky enough to see tornadoes just don't seem to hear despite every news report seemingly always mentioning the train or jet engine sound), and the damage so far seems plausible (local news noted mobile home roof damage, carport gone, etc. But maybe it was a downburst--time will tell.
Here's a storm pic gallery from Florida Today:
http://floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=A9&Date=20081130&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=1130013&Ref=PH&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

There's a brief video here:
http://floridatoday.com/article/20081130/BREAKINGNEWS/81130014&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
A "florida room" is not a substantial structure--just an enclosed porch.
I believe this storm damage may be from the same storm that I captured the TVS about fifteen minutes earlier (see the attached pdf file here). Maybe it wasn't--perhaps it was one of the other cells in the lower left corner coming up. Anyone else watching radar about that time have a conclusion?

from: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-palm-bay-tornado-113008,0,6247618.story

A reported tornado has knocked down trees and damaged homes in Palm Bay, including about 14 residences in a community of manufactured homes, Palm Bay police department said.

Emergency dispatchers began receiving calls from motorists and area residents at about 3:40 p.m., reporting a tornado in the area of Emerson Drive and Consumer Street. The weather system caused minor damage to several houses before moving northeast into the Holiday Park manufactured home subdivision. Of the approximately 14 homes in the subdivision were damaged, at least two received moderate damage, police said.

The apparent tornado then continued across I-95 through the area of Velvet, Nina and Nebraska Streets. There was only minor damage in that area, police said.

City building officials are still assessing the damage, and public works crews are clearing debris from roadways. Police said that as of 5 p.m., there were no confirmed injuries.

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the SPC doesn't have that report yet, but there is the Oceola county tornado report, also mentioned in local news;
http://www.local6.com/weather/18174516/detail.html
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So, anybody see anything of interest in person today? Maybe we can switch some of the material in the NOW thread over here to the discuss thread.

Rob Dale pointed out that it didn't seem likely the TVS cell was the one that would have caused the tornado in Palm Bay because of the rapid storm movement and the time difference--perhaps approaching 20 minutes.
Here was my response:

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I'm not sure what accounts for that damage then. Here's the larger storm velocity pic at the same time attached. What would you point to here as the culprit? Maybe cell Y4? Also, just because the reports came in at 3:40 doesn't mean that's the first appearance of the tornado.
At one point in the afternoon there were two severe warned cells rolling into the Palm Bay/Melbourne vicinity (note that Melbourne is between Palm Bay and Satellite Beach--it's not shown on the map there), but I think that was after 4 pm.
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So, which cell was it? Who has a radar capture closer to 3:40? Did another circulation develop within V6, or was it Q6 or Y4?
 

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That sort of tornado is likely not going to be seen by radar, let alone its parent circulation because there probably isn't much of a circulation. Plot the damage path & times as best you can along with archived radar data and that will help tremendously.
 
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