Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 54, NWS Columbia, SC

June 2, 1997Fairfield County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 2, 1997, 5:33 PM EDT for Fairfield County, South Carolina. It was in force for 42 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
Jun 2, 1997, 5:33 PM EDT (21:33 UTC)
Expired
Jun 2, 1997, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
42 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 21:37 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 2, 5:40 PM EDTHail 0.75Blair, 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 12:00Z, 9.6 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1997-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 614 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1997-06-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
614 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
956 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 022132 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC039-022215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
533 PM EDT MON JUN 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN FAIRFIELD COUNTY
 
AT 530 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF THE TOWN OF SHELTON ALONG SOUTH CAROLINA
HIGHWAY 215. THIS THUNDERSTORM IS DRIFTING SLOWLY NORTH. THE PRIMARY
THREAT WITH THIS STORM IS HAIL IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH IN DIAMETER.
 
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.
 
HG

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, Jun 2, 1:26 PM EDT, 4 hours 7 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
126 PM EDT MON JUN 02 1997

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

102 PM     WHITMIRE                  SC   .75 INCH HAIL
06/02/97   NEWBERRY                       WHITMIRE POLICE   .75 IN
                                          HAIL COVERED GROUND WITH
                                          SOME SMALL     TREE LIMBS
                                          DOWN

MWC

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.