Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 5, 1989Pickens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1989, 5:24 PM EDT for Pickens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 66 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 1989, 5:24 PM EDT (21:24 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1989, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Pickens County, SC

The radar

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

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 5, 5:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Pickens, SC
May 5, 6:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Pickens, SC

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 117 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 200 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 610 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 157 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KGSP 052126
TORGSP
SCC077-052230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREER SC
524 PM EDT FRI MAY 5 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
          ...PICKENS
 
A POSSIBLE TORNADO HAS BEEN REPORTED IN OCONEE COUNTY...WELCOME CHURCH
AREA. THIS STORM IS MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARD THE NORTHEAST.
 
 
PEOPLE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE
ACTION TO PROTECT THEIR LIVES. GO TO YOUR BASEMENT...THE CENTER OF
BUILDINGS...COVER YOUR HEAD. DO NOT GO NEAR DOORS OR WINDOWS. GET
OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. GET INTO A STURDY BUILDING OR A
DITCH.
WAJ

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 5:21 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Anderson, Oconee	69 min
May 5, 5:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Abbeville	69 min
May 5, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Greenville	69 min
May 5, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenwood, Laurens	59 min
May 5, 6:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GSP	Laurens, Spartanburg	57 min
May 5, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cherokee, Union	44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes in 1989

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.