Alert archive / South Carolina / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Columbia, SC

March 7, 1996Chesterfield County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this flash flood warning at Mar 7, 1996, 8:03 AM EST for Chesterfield County, South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 7, 1996, 8:03 AM EST (13:03 UTC)
Expired: Mar 7, 1996, 2:00 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Chesterfield County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:05 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 940 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 227 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 071304
FFWCAE
SCC003-025-055-063-079-071900-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
803 AM EST THU MAR 7 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...AIKEN COUNTY...CHESTERFIELD COUNTY...KERSHAW COUNTY
   ...LEXINGTON COUNTY...RICHLAND COUNTY
 
HEAVY RAINS HAVE BEEN FALLING FROM THE AUGUSTA GA AREA NORTHEAST THROUGH
COLUMBIA TO CHESTERFIELD. ONE TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN SINCE
MIDNIGHT AND ANOTHER ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN WILL FALL DURING THE
MORNING HOURS. RIVERS AND STREAMS ARE RISING RAPIDLY...SOME STREAMS ARE
ALREADY BANKFULL. FLOODING IS OCCURRING ALONG ROADWAYS AND IN OTHER LOW
LYING AREAS.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOWP SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
SJN

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 7, 7:38 AM EST, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
738 AM EST THU MAR 07 1996

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....
3 AM       TARA COURT                GA   WIND DAMAGE
03/07/96   RICHMOND                       POSSIBLE TORNADO CAUSED
                                          DAMAGE TO 8-10 HOMES IN
                                          TARA COURT NEAR

TTH

Local storm report, Mar 7, 7:50 AM EST, 13 minutes before

STORM REPORT CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
750 AM EST THU MAR 07 1996

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....
3 AM       TARA COURT                GA   WIND DAMAGE
03/07/96   RICHMOND                       POSSIBLE TORNADO CAUSED
                                          DAMAGE TO 8-10 HOMES IN
                                          TARA COURT NEAR THE GOSHEN
                                          AREA IN RICHMOND CO, GA

TTH

Local storm report, Mar 7, 7:51 AM EST, 12 minutes before

STORM REPORT CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
750 AM EST THU MAR 07 1996

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....
3 AM       TARA COURT                GA   WIND DAMAGE
03/07/96   RICHMOND                       POSSIBLE TORNADO CAUSED
                                          DAMAGE TO 8-10 HOMES IN
                                          TARA COURT NEAR THE GOSHEN
      &                                    AREA IN RICHMOND CO, GA

TTH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 7, 8:03 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Aiken, Lexington	6 hr
Mar 7, 8:03 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Kershaw, Richland	6 hr
Mar 7, 8:47 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lee	28 min
Mar 7, 12:17 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Clarendon	28 min
Mar 7, 3:02 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Edgefield, McCormick	6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in South Carolina, 1996 Every flash flood warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.