Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1995

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 32, NWS Columbia, SC

May 15, 1995Sumter County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 1995, 5:40 PM EDT for Sumter County, South Carolina. It was in force for 65 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 1995, 5:40 PM EDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1995, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Sumter County, SC

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 853 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -130 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1155 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 115 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 152137
SVRCAE
SCC085-152245-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
540 PM EDT MON MAY 15 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...SUMTER COUNTY
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE APPROACHING SUMTER COUNTY AT
535 PM. STORMS IN LEE COUNTY AND RICHLAND COUNTY AT 535 PM WERE MOVING
SOUTHEASTWARD AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE
MOBILE HOMES.  FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR.  DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
AMATEUR RADIO AND OTHER SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO MONITOR THIS
STORM AND RELAY REPORTS PROMPTLY TO THE NEAREST NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.
 
 
RJL

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 15, 4:46 PM EDT, 54 minutes before

GAZ087-088-SCZ040-152245-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUGUSTA GA
443 PM EDT MON MAY 15 1995

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR
ALLENDALE COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA...

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM EDT FOR
JENKINS AND SCREVEN COUNTY IN GEORGIA...

WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT 440 PM EDT INDICATED RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVER NORTHERN JENKINS AND SOUTHWEST BURKE
COUNTIES IN GEORGIA THAT EXTENDED SOUTHWEST TO NEAR THE CITY OF DUBLIN
IN LAURENS COUNTY IN GEORGIA. THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WAS MOVING TO
THE SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

AT SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING STORM...TOWERING THUNDERHEADS...DARKENING
SKIES...LIGHTNING AND INCREASING WINDS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.
TUNE IN NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

Local storm report, May 15, 4:50 PM EDT, 50 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
449 PM EDT MON MAY 15 1995

TIME(EDT)   .....CITY LOCATION....    STATE....EVENT/REMARK....
            .....COUNTY LOCATION..

445 PM                                SC       POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
5/15/95     NEWBERRY                           JUST INSIDE THE NEWBERRY
                                               COUNTY LINE ALONE I-26.
                                               REPORT RECEIVED FROM
                                               LEXINGTON PUBLIC SAFETY.

RJL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 4:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lancaster	48 min
May 15, 4:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Fairfield	50 min
May 15, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Kershaw	45 min
May 15, 4:37 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Newberry	53 min
May 15, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	45 min
May 15, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	34 min
May 15, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Calhoun, Clarendon	61 min
May 15, 6:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1995 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1995

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.