Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 95, NWS Charleston, SC

August 31, 1997Tattnall County, Georgia

NWS Charleston, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1997, 6:36 PM EDT for Tattnall County, Georgia. It was in force for 39 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: Aug 31, 1997, 6:36 PM EDT (22:36 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1997, 7:15 PM EDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Tattnall County, GA

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:39 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
Aug 31, 6:39 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Reidsville, GA	Trees and power lines down

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

Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 77 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -189 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1242 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -35 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 KCHS 312235 RRA
SVRCHS
GAC267-312315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
636 PM EDT SUN AUG 31 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  GEORGIA
 
   ...TATTNALL COUNTY
 
AT 630 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR REIDSVILLE. THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE DAMAGING
WINDS NEAR REIDSVILLE AND JUST NORTH ALONG ROUTE 23 BY 645 PM.
 
RESIDENTS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD MOVE TO SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
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 Aug 31, 1:52 PM EDT, 4 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 1:52 PM EDT, 4 hours 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
150 PM EDT SUN AUG 31 1997

RADAR SHOWING SIM BUT NOT QUITE AS INTENSE SHOWRS/TSTMS LIKE YDAY AND
EXPECT THEM TO LAST WELL INTO THE EVE HOURS. GOOD INSTAB AND MSTR IN
PLACE SO THESE LIKE YDAY WILL NEED TO BE WATCHED.

UPR TROF CONT TO WKN WITH VORT LOBE AND INCRSNG OVRALL MSTR OVR THE SE
CSTL RGN MON INTO TUE...PCPTBL WATER IN THE 2.0 INCH RNGE. MODELS CONT
TO DEVLP LO TO THE SW WITH BROAD HI EXTENDING FROM THE NE DOWN THE CST
WL KEEP A WARM AND HUMID AIRMASS WITH SE FLO WELL INTO THE EXTNDD PD.
LIKE THE IDEA OF GOOD CHC POPS TOMORROW AND AGAIN FOR TUE IN VCNTY OF
DECENT UVV ALONG THE S CST AND NOT A MAJOR CHG IN AIRMASS AS SAGGING
FRONT CONT TO DISSPATE. SHOULD SEE A SLIGHT DIURNAL VARIATION IN POPS
BOTH TONIGHT AND MON NIGHT.

    S CST   CHS-NBC
.TONIGHT...A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS INTO EARLY MORNING. LOWS
70-75. SOUTHEAST WIND 5 TO 10 MPH. PATCHY DENSE FOG BEFORE SUNRISE.
.MON...A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTN TSTMS. HIGHS 85-90. SOUTHEAST
WIND 10 MPH.
.MON NIGHT...A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF LATE EVENING/ERLY AM TSTMS. LOWS
70-75. PATCHY FOG BEFORE SUNRISE.
.TUE...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A 50 PERCENT CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTN/EVE TSTMS.
HIGHS MID/UPR 80S.

    CCF
.TONIGHT...SE WIND 10 KT. SEAS 3 FT. SCT TSTMS.
.MON...SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 3-4 FT. SCT TSTMS.
.MON NIGHT...SE WIND 10 KT SEAS 3 FT. SCT TSTMS.
.TUE...SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS 3-4 FT. SCT TSTMS.

MJR

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 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.