Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Charleston, SC

May 3, 1997Colleton County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1997, 1:36 PM EDT for Colleton County, South Carolina. It was in force for 69 min. 2 reports 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 3, 1997, 1:36 PM EDT (17:36 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1997, 2:45 PM EDT
In force: 69 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Colleton County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:37 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 3, 2:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Ruffin, SC
May 3, 2:53 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Islandton, 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 3, 8:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 61 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: 637 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -72 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 880 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 2.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCHS 031733 RRA
SVRCHS
SCC029-031845-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
136 PM EDT SAT MAY 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...COLLETON COUNTY
 
 
RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER COLLETON COUNTY.
THE STORMS WILL MOVE NEAR WILLIAMS AND
WALTERBORO.  THE STORM WAS MOVING
TO THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
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.

NWS Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 3, 9:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 3, 9:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 6 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
930 AM EDT SAT MAY 3 1997

MODIFIED CHS SOUNDING SHOWS CAPES 2500-3000...LIS -10...DPS ATTM ARE
IN THE LOWER 70S SO PREPARING FOR ACTIVE AFTERNOON.  MAY WANT TO BUMP
TEMPS TO LOW TO MID 80S BASED ON CURRENT OBS/SKY CONDITION.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 1:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Allendale	52 min
May 3, 1:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	65 min
May 3, 2:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	37 min
May 3, 2:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	59 min
May 3, 2:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Beaufort, Colleton, Jasper	59 min
May 3, 3:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	29 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.