AN S80 FLC DIVERTS TO TPA WHEN THEY ENCOUNTER TSTM ACTIVITY N OF MCO; THEIR DEST ARPT. THEIR PLANNED DIVERSION PLUS PREVIOUS ENRTE DIVERSIONS AND DELAYS HAD BY THEN CREATED AN EMER FUEL SIT. CAPT USED HIS EMER AUTH TO STATE THAT CONDITION.

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ON FLT DFW TO MCO SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE AT MCO WITH 7500 LBS OF FUEL ONBOARD. DUE TO MODERATE CHOP ABOVE FL290 WE REMAINED AT FL290 AND BURNED ABOUT 800 LBS MORE FUEL. JUST PRIOR TO LAL WE TURNED NE TO PARALLEL A LINE OF WX. AT LAL WE HAD 7200 LBS AND HAD BEEN SLOWED FOR ARR TFC. WE WERE SLOWED TO 210 KTS AND GIVEN LOWER AT THIS TIME. OUR RWY WAS CHANGED FROM RWY 18R TO RWY 17 FOR WX. WE WERE SLOWED TO 180 KTS AND GIVEN VECTORS TO FOLLOW AN L1011 ON FINAL. WHEN WE TURNED FINAL AT 27 MI THERE WAS A LINE OF LEVEL 2 STORMS BTWN US AND THE ARPT. I ELECTED TO DISCONTINUE THE APCH AND WAS GIVEN A L TURN AND CLB TO FL040. WE WERE GIVEN VECTORS FOR HOLDING AT WHICH TIME CALLED DISPATCH USING MCO OPS AS RELAY AND REQUESTED A FUEL BURN TO TPA. WHILE TALKING TO DISPATCH ATC ADVISED THAT THE STORMS WERE LEVEL 4 AND THE ARPT WAS EXPERIENCING WINDSHEAR. I GOT THE BURN AND IMMEDIATELY ADVISED OPS AND THEN APCH THAT WE WERE GOING TO TPA. WHEN SWITCHED TO DEP I ADVISED THEM OF MINIMUM FUEL AND WANTED VECTORS TO TPA. TPA ATIS ADVISED THAT THEY WERE LNDG RWY 36L AND BECAUSE WE WERE HITTING HEADWINDS AND WERE GOING TO BE LOW ON FUEL I DECLARED AN EMER FOR PRIORITY HANDLING. DUE TO GUSTY WIND 310 DEGS 11 KTS GUSTING 22 KTS WE COULD NOT LAND ON RWY 18 AND ELECTED TO LAND ON RWY 27. WE BRIEFED THE LOW FUEL PROCS FROM PART 1 AND SHOT A VISUAL APCH. WE MADE AN UNEVENTFUL LNDG WITH 2800 LBS FUEL ONBOARD. DURING THIS WHOLE TIME WE KEPT GETTING CONFLICTING RPTS FROM MCO TWR HOW ACFT WERE LNDG AND IT WAS VFR BUT THEN WE WERE GETTING RPTS OF WINDSHEAR AND WIND 90-180 KT DIFFERENCE. I THINK A LITTLE BETTER COORD NEEDS TO BE ACHIEVED BTWN APCH AND THE TWR. THE ACARS ATIS FEATURE WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL; IT ALLOWED ONE PLT TO FLY AND TALK TO APCH AND THE OTHER PLT TALK TO DISPATCH WHILE GETTING THE CURRENT ATIS. IT ALSO PERMITTED LISTENING TO TWR FREQ WHILE GETTING UPDATED INFO. ANOTHER FEATURE THAT WOULD BE EXTREMELY HELPFUL WOULD BE THE ABILITY TO PULL A SLS*CITY/ALL OUT OF THE ACARS. THIS WOULD GIVE WX AND FIELD CONDITIONS AS WELL AS THE ARPT NOTAMS. WHEN TRYING TO FIND A DIVERT FIELD THIS WOULD REALLY AID THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS. ALSO ANOTHER AFTER NOTE ON THE EVENT; WHEN GOING TO THE LAST ATIS PULLED UP JUST PRIOR TO DIVERT; WIND HAD SHIFTED 180 DEGS AND WAS GUSTING TO 22 KTS PREVENTING US TO LAND ON THE IN USE RWY. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 384505: WE WERE 27 DME N OF MCO. OTHER ACFT WERE GETTING IN AND WHEN WE WERE GIVEN A 100 DEG HDG TO JOIN THE RWY 18R LOC WE GOT A GOOD LOOK AT THE TSTMS WHICH WERE ABOUT 12 DME N OF THE FIELD; SOLID RED LEVEL 4 TSTMS. AT THIS POINT WE HAD 6500 LBS FUEL REMAINING AND ATC SAID THEY WERE GOING TO GIVE US RWY 17 FROM RWY 18R. THEY SAID IT WAS DUE TO THE WX ON THE FIELD. NOW THEY WERE CALLING WINDSHEAR N BOUNDARY. AT THAT POINT; THEY CLRED US FOR THE APCH. WE ELECTED TO GET OFF OF THE APCH FOR VECTORS FOR HOLDING. ATC SAID THE WX WAS MOVING THROUGH VERY FAST AND SHOULD BE E OF THE ARPT IN ABOUT 10 MINS.