Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 31, NWS Columbia, SC

May 23, 1988Richland County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 1988, 9:04 PM EDT for Richland County, South Carolina. It was in force for 26 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 23, 1988, 9:04 PM EDT (01:04 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1988, 9:30 PM EDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Columbia, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Richland County, SC

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 150 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 1988-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 597 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 00:00Z on 1988-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 93 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
597 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-201 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1392 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 23, 5:23 PM EDT, 3 hours 41 minutes before
BULLETIN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
522 PM EDT MON MAY 23 1988

...WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP ACROSS THE LOWER PIEDMONT
   OF SOUTH CAROLINA...

AT 518 PM EDT RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN AND
POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL OVER THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF SALUDA COUNTY AND
SOUTHERN NEWBERRY COUNTY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD THE
NORTHEAT AT ABOUT 40 MPH.

PEOPLE ACROSS THE LOWER PIEDMONT...PARTICULARLY SALUDA...NEWBERRY ...
AND FAIRFIELD COUNTY SHOULD BE ALERT FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS FOR
THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING VERY HEAVY RAIN...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...STRONG
GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL.

KANUPP
Special weather statement, May 23, 6:42 PM EDT, 2 hours 22 minutes before
BULLETIN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
640 PM EDT MON MAY 23 1988

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 166 REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR
   A LARGE PART OF SOUTH CAROLINA UNTIL MIDNIGHT...

ACROSS CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA AT 635 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED
THUNDERSTORMS OVER NEWEBERRY.. SALUDA..  WESTERN LEXINGTON AND
WESTERN CHESTER COUNTIES. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY
RAINS AND POSSIBLE HAIL WERE LOCATED OVER WESTERN LEXINGTON
COUNTY AND WESTERN CHESTER COUNTY.

ALL OF THESE STORMS WERE MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

PEOPLE ACROSS THE MIDLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA SHOULD REMAIN ALERT
FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE WEATHER AS THESE THUNDERSTORM MOVE ACROSS
SOUTH CAROLINA. IF THREATENING WEATHER IS OVSERVED OR A WARNING
IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
KANUPP

The office that day

Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 8:11 PM EDTTornado WarningCAERichland64 min
May 23, 8:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEKershaw, Lancaster53 min
May 23, 9:09 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Lexington51 min
May 23, 9:39 PM EDTTornado WarningCAECalhoun, Richland51 min
May 23, 10:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAELee, Sumter40 min
May 23, 10:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Clarendon62 min
May 23, 10:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEKershaw, Lee, Sumter67 min
May 23, 10:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEBamberg, Orangeburg67 min
May 23, 10:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEDarlington67 min
May 24, 12:03 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEDarlington57 min
May 24, 12:03 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEClarendon, Orangeburg57 min
May 24, 1:05 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFlorence, Marlboro55 min
May 24, 1:05 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEClarendon55 min
May 24, 2:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEYork66 min
May 24, 2:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFairfield63 min
May 24, 3:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEChester65 min
May 24, 3:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAELancaster57 min
May 24, 3:37 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAENewberry, Richland53 min
May 24, 4:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFairfield60 min
May 24, 4:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEKershaw29 min
May 24, 6:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Orangeburg51 min
May 24, 6:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEClarendon55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.