Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC

February 21, 1997Pickens County, South Carolina

NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued this tornado warning at Feb 21, 1997, 3:44 PM EST for Pickens County, South Carolina. It was in force for 46 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: Feb 21, 1997, 3:44 PM EST (20:44 UTC)
Expired: Feb 21, 1997, 4:30 PM EST
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Pickens County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:45 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
Feb 21, 3:45 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Norris And Central, SC
Feb 21, 4:00 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Easley, 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
Feb 21, 3:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 288 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 527 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 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 KGSP 212046 RRA
TORGSP
SCC077-212130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG SC
344 PM EST FRI FEB 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...PICKENS COUNTY
 
WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT 343 PM INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING
EAST OUT OF OCONEE COUNTY INTO PICKENS COUNTY. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF
FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE RECEIVED FROM OCONEE COUNTY...AND A TORNADO MAY HAVE
CAUSED DAMAGE IN WALHALLA.
 
THE LINE OF STORMS WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS PICKENS COUNTY THROUGH 430 PM.
CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THESE STORMS TO PRODUCE WIND DAMAGE AND
BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWNS AS THEY MOVE EAST ACROSS PICKENS COUNTY.
 
TORNADOES IN THE SOUTH ARE HARD TO SEE BECAUSE OF RAIN...LOW
CLOUDS...AND TREES. TAKE COVER NOW...DO NOT TRY TO WAIT ON THE
STORM AND DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN IT.
 
ZOLTOWSKI

The office that day

Everything else NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 21, 3:14 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Oconee	46 min
Feb 21, 3:49 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Anderson	41 min
Feb 21, 4:10 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenville	35 min
Feb 21, 4:30 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Greenwood	30 min
Feb 21, 4:38 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Laurens, Spartanburg	37 min
Feb 21, 4:44 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Cherokee, Union	46 min
Feb 21, 5:06 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	York	39 min
Feb 21, 5:06 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GSP	Chester	39 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.