Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 40, NWS Columbia, SC

April 23, 1997Burke County, Georgia

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 23, 1997, 12:34 AM EDT for Burke County, Georgia. It was in force for 26 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 23, 1997, 12:34 AM EDT (04:34 UTC)
Expired: Apr 23, 1997, 1:00 AM EDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Burke County, GA

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:35 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 23, 12:45 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Sardis, GA

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

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 187 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: 885 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 230433 RRA
SVRCAE
GAC033-230500-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
1234 AM EDT WED APR 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  100 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  GEORGIA
 
   ...BURKE COUNTY
 
WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER
SOUTHWESTERN BURKE COUNTY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. THIS STORM IS
EXPECTED TO PASS OVER THE TOWN OF WAYNESBORO.
 
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.
 
HG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 22, 8:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Columbia	66 min
Apr 22, 8:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richmond	35 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 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.