Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1990

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

May 4, 1990Laurens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1990, 5:51 PM EDT for Laurens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 39 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 4, 1990, 5:51 PM EDT (21:51 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1990, 6:30 PM EDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area
Whole counties

County Laurens 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

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 133 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1990-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 241 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, Athens Municipal, GA at 12:00Z on 1990-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 73 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
241 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
876 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSP 042151
TORGSP
SCC059-042230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
551 PM EDT FRI MAY 4 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
          ...LAURENS
 
A TORNADO WAS OSBSERVED BY SEVERAL PEOPLE BETWEEN LAURENS AND WATERLOO
ALONG HIGHWAY 221 ABOUT 545 \PM EDT. DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED.
 
TORNADOES IN THE SOUTH ARE HARD TO SEE BECAUSE OF RAIN...LOW
CLOUDS...AND TREES. TAKE COVER NOW...DO NOT TRY TO WAIT ON THE
STORM AND DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN IT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 4:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPLaurens46 min
May 4, 5:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAbbeville64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1990Every tornado warning in 1990Tornadoes in 1990

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.