Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1997, 7:34 PM EDT for Lexington 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
- May 31, 1997, 7:34 PM EDT (23:34 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1997, 8:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 41 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lexington County, SC
The radar
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:37 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 7:48 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | South Congaree, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 7:00 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 162 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 578 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 541 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 66 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 55 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCAE 312332 SVRCAE SCC063-010015- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 734 PM EDT SAT MAY 31 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CAROLINA ...EASTERN LEXINGTON COUNTY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF THE COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN AIRPORT. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH AT ABOUT 15 MPH...AND WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AIRPORT AND INTO THE SAINT ANDREWS AREA OF COLUMBIA BY 800 PM. 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 6:23 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lexington, Richland | 37 min |
| May 31, 6:32 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Lexington, Richland | 28 min |
| May 31, 7:58 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CAE | Lexington | 3 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1997Every 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.