Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 78, NWS Columbia, SC

July 14, 1997Richland County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 14, 1997, 8:17 PM EDT for Richland County, South Carolina. It was in force for 43 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 14, 1997, 8:17 PM EDT (00:17 UTC)
Expired: Jul 14, 1997, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Richland County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:19 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 14, 8:25 PM EDT	Hail 1	Blythewood, SC	Public spotter reports quarter size hail.

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 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 150 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: 2196 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1158 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 156 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.

603 
WUUS1 KCAE 150018 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC079-150100-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
817 PM EDT MON JUL 14 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...NORTHERN RICHLAND COUNTY
 
AT 815 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
OVER THE FAIRFIELD AND RICHLAND COUNTY LINE ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF
THE TOWN OF BLYTHEWOOD. THIS THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 15 MPH
AND SHOULD PASS NEAR BLYTHEWOOD AROUND 845 PM.
 
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.  DONT 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, Jul 14, 7:26 PM EDT, 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
726 PM EDT MON JUL 14 1997

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

645 PM     CITY OF SUMTER            SC   WIND DAMAGE
07/14/97   SUMTER                         SUMTER COUNTY SHERIFFS
                                          OFFICE REPORTS NUMEROUS
                                          TREES DOWN THROUGHOUT THE
                                          CITY

HG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 15, 1:58 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	47 min
Jul 15, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	44 min
Jul 15, 7:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Sumter	41 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.