Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 70, NWS Columbia, SC

July 5, 1997Calhoun County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 5, 1997, 7:50 PM EDT for Calhoun County, South Carolina. It was in force for 40 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: Jul 5, 1997, 7:50 PM EDT (23:50 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 1997, 8:30 PM EDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Calhoun County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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
Jul 5, 8:14 PM EDT	Hail 1.25	St Matthews, SC	TV 10 showed home video of pingpong-ball-size hail near St. Matthews.

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
Jul 5, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 113 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: 2272 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -119 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1274 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 20 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 052351 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC017-060030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
750 PM EDT SAT JUL 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...EASTERN CALHOUN COUNTY
 
AT 750 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF ST
MATHEWS. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. STRONG WINDS AND PEA
SIZE HAIL WAS OBSERVED IN ST MATTHEWS.
 
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.
 
 
 
&

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, Jul 5, 6:13 PM EDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
613 PM EDT SAT JUL 05 1997

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

505 PM     ELKO                      SC   .50 INCH HAIL
07/05/97   BARNWELL                       TREES DOWN

520 PM     2 SW FORT MOTT            SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/05/97   CALHOUN                        FIRE CHIEF REPORTED TREES
                                          DOWN IN HIS YARD

LM

Local storm report, Jul 5, 6:25 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
625 PM EDT SAT JUL 05 1997

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

550 PM     5 N BLACKVILLE            SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/05/97   BARNWELL                       SHERIFF REPORTED TREES
                                          DOWN NEAR THE ORANGEBURG
                                          COUNTY LINE

LM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 5, 3:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Calhoun	67 min
Jul 5, 4:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Sumter	46 min
Jul 5, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Calhoun	45 min
Jul 5, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Barnwell	36 min
Jul 5, 5:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	65 min
Jul 5, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Clarendon	45 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.