Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Columbia, SC

March 16, 1996Kershaw County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 16, 1996, 11:04 PM EST for Kershaw County, South Carolina. It was in force for 41 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Mar 16, 1996, 11:04 PM EST (04:04 UTC)
Expired: Mar 16, 1996, 11:45 PM EST
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Kershaw County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:07 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 16, 11:30 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Kershaw, SC

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 169 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: 615 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -78 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1054 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 308 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 7.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 170404 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC055-170445-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
1104 PM EST SAT MAR 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...KERSHAW COUNTY
 
AT 1100 RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 5 MILES NORTH OF
CAMDEN. THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 45 MPH AND WILL MOVE
NEAR CASSATT BY 1115 PM.
 
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.
 
CDL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 16, 10:13 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Fairfield, Kershaw	47 min
Mar 16, 10:47 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lee	43 min
Mar 17, 7:25 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	50 min
Mar 17, 7:59 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	46 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.