Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 81, NWS Columbia, SC

July 15, 1997Sumter County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 15, 1997, 7:04 PM EDT for Sumter 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: Jul 15, 1997, 7:04 PM EDT (23:04 UTC)
Expired: Jul 15, 1997, 7:45 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Sumter County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:07 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 15, 7:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Sumter, SC	Sheriff and Electric Coop report trees and powerlines down in Wedgefield and along highway 76/378.

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, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 558 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1046 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 104 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 152305 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC085-152345-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
704 PM EDT TUE JUL 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...SUMTER COUNTY
 
AT 703 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
WEDGEFIELD. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH AND WILL REACH SHAW AIR
FORCE BASE BY 715 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.  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 15, 2:50 PM EDT, 4 hours 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
250 PM EDT TUE JUL 15 1997

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

825 PM     BLYTHEWOOD                SC   1.00 INCH HAIL
07/14/97   RICHLAND                       PUBIC REPORTED QUARTER
                                          SIZED HAIL 2 MILES NORTH
                                          OF TOWN OF BLYTHEWOOD ON
                                          HIGHWAY 21

TTH

Local storm report, Jul 15, 6:28 PM EDT, 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
628 PM EDT TUE JUL 15 1997

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

615 PM     5 NE COLUMBIA             SC   1.00 INCH HAIL
07/15/97   RICHLAND                       RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF/S
                                          OFFICE REPORTED QUARTER
                                          SIZE HAIL FELL...ALSO
                                          GUSTY WINDS OCCURRED

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 14, 8:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	43 min
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

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.