Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

March 27, 1994Oconee County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Mar 27, 1994, 3:01 PM EST for Oconee County, South Carolina. It was in force for 44 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 27, 1994, 3:01 PM EST (20:01 UTC)
Expired: Mar 27, 1994, 3:45 PM EST
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Oconee County, SC

The nearest sounding before it

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 92 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: 9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -138 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 528 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 70 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 530 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 654 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGSP 272002
TORGSP
SCC073-272045-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
301 PM EST SUN MAR 27 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTHERN OCONEE COUNTY
 
A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL ENTER OCONEE COUNTY BY 315 PM AND MOVE
RAPIDLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE COUNTY. DAMAGE HAS RECENTLY
OCCURRED IN GEORGIA WITH SOME HOMES POSSIBLY DESTROYED.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE AREA FROM LONG CREEK TO WALHALLA TO TAMASSEE TO SALEM
YOU SHOULD TAKE COVER NOW.  IT IS STILL POSSIBLE THE STORM COULD TURN
RIGHT AND AFFECT OTHER PARTS OF OCONEE COUNTY.  A WARNING MAY  BE ISSUED
FOR PICKENS COUNTY SOON.
 
 
THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS...LARGE...TORNADO. IT WAS CONFIRMED
ON THE GROUND. TAKE COVER NOW!!!
 
W. JONES/GSP

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, Mar 27, 10:00 AM EST, 5 hours 1 minute before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
1000 AM EST SUN MAR 27 1994

TIME            EVENT

925 AM EST      POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN IN CLAY COUNTY.  REPORTED BY
                CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF`S DEPARTMENT.

Local storm report, Mar 27, 2:19 PM EST, 42 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ASHEVILLE NC
219 PM EST SUN MAR 27 1994

TIME            EVENT

210 PM EST      5 TO 10 MINUTES OF MARBLE SIZE HAIL NEAR BRASSTOWN IN
                CLAY COUNTY.  WIXND GUSTS MEASURED TO 50 MPH IN THE SAME
                AREA. REPORTED BY SKYWARN NET COORDINATOR.

EJC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 27, 3:28 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Pickens	47 min
Mar 27, 3:50 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Oconee	55 min
Mar 27, 4:04 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Greenville	41 min
Mar 27, 4:18 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Pickens	42 min
Mar 27, 4:33 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Spartanburg	27 min
Mar 27, 4:46 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	59 min
Mar 27, 4:58 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Greenville, Pickens	62 min
Mar 27, 5:08 PM EST	Tornado Warning	GSP	Cherokee, Spartanburg	67 min
Mar 27, 5:36 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	54 min
Mar 27, 5:52 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Pickens	53 min
Mar 27, 6:14 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	46 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.