Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Charleston, SC

October 8, 1996Colleton County, Dorchester County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 8, 1996, 3:23 AM EDT for Colleton County, Dorchester County, South Carolina. It was in force for 37 min. 3 reports 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: Oct 8, 1996, 3:23 AM EDT (07:23 UTC)
Expired: Oct 8, 1996, 4:00 AM EDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Colleton County, SC, Dorchester County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:26 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
Oct 8, 3:28 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Summerville, SC
Oct 8, 3:35 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 54	Walterboro, SC
Oct 8, 3:50 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 53	St George, 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, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 50 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 553 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 375 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 825 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 KCHS 080725
SVRCHS
SCC029-035-080800-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
323 AM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...COLLETON COUNTY...DORCHESTER COUNTY
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS IN THE VICINITY OF WALTERBORO AT 320 AM... AND
IS EXPECTED TO MOVE QUICKLY NORTH ACROSS NORTHERN COLLETON AND
DORCHESTER COUNTIES. THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL MOVE NEAR I-95 AND
CANADYS...ST. GEORGE AREAS WITH WINDS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH LIKELY.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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.

NWS Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 8, 3:15 AM EDT, 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 8, 3:15 AM EDT, 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
310 AM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996

HAVEN'T HAD MUCH TIME TO PICK APART MODELS THIS AM. FEW WARNINGS AND
UPDATES FROM WATCH AND MULTIPLE MESOS ON 88D MAKING FOR A FUN MORNING.
ANYHOW...LARGE AREA PCPN WITH ISOLD TSTMS CONT TO MAKE RAPID PROGRESS
NWRD. SOME HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND HAVE DEBATED FFW (PROBABLY INEVITABLE)
FOR FEW COUNTIES WITH RADAR ESTIMATES AOA 3 INCHES APPROACHING CSTL
COUNTIES. FROM KJGX AND KJAX 88D'S...WESTERN EXTENT OF PCPN NR THE WRN
EDGE OF CWA. WARM FRONT MOVING NWRD ALONG THE COAST AS CENTER OF
JOSEPHINE NR OR ENTERING GA PORTION OF CWA.

CAE...GOT PRELIM PKG. ZFP FINE BUT WINDS ON CWF POSS BUMPED UP ANOTHER
5x KTS WITH LATEST OBS FOR MORNING TIMEFRAME...DIRECTION CAN BE A PROB
WITH TRACK OF JOSEPHINE AND POSITION OF FRONT...BUT PRELIM FINE AS IS.
OTHERWISE POPS AND EVERYTHING ELSE LUKS GOOD FROM HERE. SORRY SO LATE.

MJR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 8, 1:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	50 min
Oct 8, 2:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Beaufort	30 min
Oct 8, 3:38 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CHS	Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton	5 hr
Oct 8, 4:19 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CHS	Berkeley, Dorchester	5 hr

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.