Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Columbia, SC

August 16, 1994Fairfield County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1994, 4:13 PM EDT for Fairfield County, South Carolina. It was in force for 47 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 16, 1994, 4:13 PM EDT (20:13 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1994, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Fairfield County, SC

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 537 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -55 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 957 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 162014
TORCAE
SCC039-162100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
413 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNI

What forecasters said that day

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:00 PM EDT, 2 hours 13 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
200 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

 DATE/TIME      EVENT
16/130 PM EDT   TORNADO REPORTED LEXINGTON COUNTY NEAR RED BANK AND I-20
                AREA. A CAR WAS REPORTED OVERTURNED...NO INFORMATION
                ON INJURIES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THIS TIME.

RCJ

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:03 PM EDT, 2 hours 10 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
200 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

 DATE/TIME      EVENT
16/130 PM EDT   TORNADO REPORTED LEXINGTON COUNTY NEAR RED BANK AND I-20
                AREA. A CAR WAS REPORTED OVERTURNED...NO INFORMATION
                ON INJURIES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THIS TIME.

RCJ

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:23 PM EDT, 1 hour 50 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
223 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

 DATE/TIME      EVENT
16/130 PM EDT   TORNADO REPORTED LEXINGTON COUNTY NEAR RED BANK AND I-20
                AREA. A CAR WAS REPORTED OVERTURNED...NO INFORMATION
                ON INJURIES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THIS TIME.

16/135 PM EDT   TIME APPROX. DAMAGE IN THE LEXINTON AREA REPORTED.
                WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES AND SOME DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS
                AND TREES REPIRTED BY HAM OPERATORS.

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:24 PM EDT, 1 hour 49 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
223 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

 DATE/TIME      EVENT
16/130 PM EDT   TORNADO REPORTED LEXINGTON COUNTY NEAR RED BANK AND I-20
                AREA. A CAR WAS REPORTED OVERTURNED...NO INFORMATION
                ON INJURIES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THIS TIME.

16/135 PM EDT   TIME APPROX. DAMAGE IN THE LEXINTON AREA REPORTED.
                WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES AND SOME DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS
                AND TREES REPIRTED BY HAM OPERATORS.

Local storm report, Aug 16, 2:26 PM EDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
226 PM EDT TUE AUG 16 1994

 DATE/TIME      EVENT
16/130 PM EDT   TORNADO REPORTED LEXINGTON COUNTY NEAR RED BANK AND I-20
                AREA. A CAR WAS REPORTED OVERTURNED...NO INFORMATION
                ON INJURIES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THIS TIME.

16/135 PM EDT   TIME APPROX. DAMAGE IN THE LEXINTON AREA REPORTED.
                WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES AND SOME DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS
                AND TREES REPIRTED BY HAM OPERATORS.

Special weather statement, Aug 16, 3:30 PM EDT, 43 minutes before

GAZ039-040-061>065-074>077-085>088-SCZ018-025-030-035-040-161915-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUGUSTA GA
325 PM TUESDAY AUG 16 1994

...A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR
MCCORMICK...EDGEFIELD...AIKEN...BARNWELL AND ALLANDALE COUNTIES OF
SOUTH CAROLINA...AS WELL AS
LINCOLN...WILKES...HANCOCK...WARREN...MCDUFFIE...COLUMBIA...RICHMOND...
WASHINGTON...GLASCOCK...JEFFERSON...BURKE...JOHNSON...JENKINS...SCREVEN
AND EMANUEL COUNTIES OF GEORGIA...

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL THE COUNTIES MENTIONED ABOVE
THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO TONIGHT...

WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT 320 PM EDT INDICATES A LARGE AREA OF LIGHT TO
MODERATE RAIN WITH EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURRING
ACROSS EAST-CENTRAL GEORGIA AND INTO SOUTH CAROLINA. THE STRONGEST
THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING IN NORTHWESTERN ALLANDALE...WESTERN
BARNWELL AND EASTERN AIKEN COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND NORTHERN
COLUMBIA COUNTY IN GEORGIA WITH MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL IN SOUTHERN
LINCOLN AND NORTHERN COLUMBIA COUNTIES IN GEORGIA.

IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IF A STORM
APPROACHES.  MOTORISTS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR REDUCED VISIBILITIES
DURING DOWNPOURS OF RAIN. STREETS MAY FLOOD QUICKLY.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN
AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ALSO
OCCUR.  BE READY TO MOVE TO SHELTER IF A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR
AREA.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 11:53 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	37 min
Aug 16, 12:23 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	37 min
Aug 16, 12:32 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	28 min
Aug 16, 12:55 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington, Orangeburg	50 min
Aug 16, 1:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Richland	38 min
Aug 16, 1:50 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	25 min
Aug 16, 2:09 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Newberry, Richland	36 min
Aug 16, 2:13 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	47 min
Aug 16, 2:17 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Fairfield	43 min
Aug 16, 2:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Newberry	51 min
Aug 16, 3:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Kershaw	45 min
Aug 16, 3:11 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	49 min
Aug 16, 3:24 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Chester	51 min
Aug 16, 3:44 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Newberry	46 min
Aug 16, 4:17 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	York	43 min
Aug 16, 5:40 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Fairfield	50 min
Aug 16, 5:51 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	York	54 min
Aug 16, 6:11 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	34 min
Aug 16, 6:49 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Chester	26 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

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.