Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Columbia, SC

April 22, 1997McCormick County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 22, 1997, 7:16 PM EDT for McCormick County, South Carolina. It was in force for 14 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: Apr 22, 1997, 7:16 PM EDT (23:16 UTC)
Expired: Apr 22, 1997, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 14 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County McCormick County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:15 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
Apr 22, 7:25 PM EDT	Hail 1	Plum Branch, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 22, 6:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 211 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: 232 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -122 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 649 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 154 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 222315 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC065-222330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
716 PM EDT TUE APR 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...SOUTHERN MCCORMICK COUNTY
 
AT 713 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY NEAR CLARK HILL LAKE. THIS
STORM WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHERN MCCORMICK COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA AROUND 720
PM. LARGE HAIL AROUND 1 INCH IN DIAMETER IS LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.
 
 
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 WATtER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
AWP

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, Apr 22, 5:00 PM EDT, 2 hours 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
500 PM EDT TUE APR 22 1997

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

455 PM:     JENKINSVILLE              SC   .75 INCH HAIL
04/22/97   FAIRFIELD                      SPOTTER REPORT

TTH

Local storm report, Apr 22, 5:17 PM EDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
517 PM EDT TUE APR 22 1997

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

510 PM     WINNSBORO                 SC   .75 INCH HAIL
04/22/97   FAIRFIELD                      SPOTTER #266 TONY HILL

510 PM     WINNSBORO                 SC   1.50 INCH HAIL
04/22/97   FAIRFIELD                      911 OPERATOR

515 PM     WINNSBFORO                 SC   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/22/97   FAIRFIELD                      POST OFFICE

HG

Local storm report, Apr 22, 5:48 PM EDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
548 PM EDT TUE APR 22 1997

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

547 PM     HEATH SPRINGS AND KERSHAW SC   .75 INCH HAIL
04/22/97   LANCASTER                      POLICE DEPT REPORT - ALSO
                                          HOUSE ON FIRE DUE TO
                                          LIGHTNING

TTH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 21, 8:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Barnwell	39 min
Apr 22, 4:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Fairfield	43 min
Apr 22, 5:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Chesterfield, Kershaw, Lancaster	57 min
Apr 22, 6:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	38 min
Apr 22, 7:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield	39 min
Apr 22, 7:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Saluda	68 min
Apr 22, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	62 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.