Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 11, NWS Columbia, SC

March 8, 1998Calhoun County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 8, 1998, 1:38 PM EST for Calhoun County, South Carolina. It was in force for 37 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 8, 1998, 1:38 PM EST (18:38 UTC)
Expired: Mar 8, 1998, 2:15 PM EST
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Calhoun County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:39 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 113 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: 232 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 727 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCAE 081838 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC017-081915-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
138 PM EST SUN MAR 8 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  215 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...CALHOUN COUNTY
 
AT 135 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES NORTHEASOF ORANGEBURG. THE STORM MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL REACH THE
ST MATTHEWS AREA BY 150 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE IN
ITS PATH. INTENSE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN CAUSE AS MUCH DAMAGE
AS SOME TORNADOES.

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, Mar 8, 1:18 PM EST, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
118 PM EST SUN MAR 08 1998

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

115 PM     5 S NORWAY                SC   60 MPH TSTM GUST
03/08/98   ORANGEBURG                     ORANGEBURG COUNTY SHERIFF
                                          REPORTS NUMEROUS TREES
                                          DOWN.

CDL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 8, 1:06 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Bamberg, Orangeburg	69 min
Mar 8, 2:04 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Clarendon	41 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.