Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 106, NWS Columbia, SC

August 5, 1997Fairfield County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 1997, 4:38 PM EDT for Fairfield County, South Carolina. It was in force for 52 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: Aug 5, 1997, 4:38 PM EDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 1997, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Fairfield County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:41 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
Aug 5, 4:42 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Blair, SC	A severe thunderstorm took down trees on SC Highways 307, 213, 48, 114, and 70 from Blair to Monticello to 5NE of Jenkinsville as reported by Highway Maint. Dept.

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 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 1722 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 974 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 31 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 KCAE 052038 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC039-052130-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
438 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...WESTERN FAIRFIELD COUNTY
 
WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER WESTERN
FAIRFIELD COUNTY JUST NORTHEAST OF MONTICELLO RESERVOIR. THIS STORM WAS
MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THE STORM WILL EFFECT THE COMMUNITY OF
JENKINSVILLE BY 500 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.
 
LCV
 
 
&

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

Local storm report, Aug 5, 2:50 PM EDT, 1 hour 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
250 PM EDT TUE AUG 05 1997

TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

205 PM     10 S BAMBERG              SC   WIND DAMAGE
08/05/97   BAMBERG                        BAMBERG COUNTY MAINT.
                                          NUMEROUS TREES DOWN
                                          BETWEEN OLAR AND EHRHARDT
                                          ALONG HIGHWAY 64.

CDL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 5, 2:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	47 min
Aug 5, 5:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.