Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 198, NWS Columbia, SC

September 8, 1998Richland County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 8, 1998, 3:49 PM EDT for Richland County, South Carolina. It was in force for 41 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: Sep 8, 1998, 3:49 PM EDT (19:49 UTC)
Expired: Sep 8, 1998, 4:30 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Richland County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:51 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
Sep 8, 4:14 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Killian, SC	Fire Dept reported 3/4 inch hail.
Sep 8, 4:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 75	Columbia, SC	Sheriff reported structural damage to several buildings and many trees down in northeast Columbia.

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
Sep 8, 1:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 150 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: 1524 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -71 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 918 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 63 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

963 
WUUS1 KCAE 081950 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC079-082030-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
349 PM EDT TUE SEP 8 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 430 PM EDT 

* AT 346 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM BETWEEN JENKINSVILLE AND CHAPIN MOVING 
  SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THIS STRONGEST PART OF THIS STORM WILL 
  CONTINUE SOUTHEAST EAST OF COLUMBIA AND WEST OF BLYTHEWOOD.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  BOOKMAN AT 355 PM

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. 

SJN/MWC

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, Sep 8, 2:54 PM EDT, 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
254 PM EDT TUE SEP 08 1998

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

307 PM     4 W HEATH SPRINGS         SC   1.75 INCH HAIL
09/08/98   LANCASTER                      LANCASTER COUNTY SHERIFF

TA

Special weather statement, Sep 8, 3:12 PM EDT, 37 minutes before

SCZ015-016-018-020-021-022-025-026-027-028-029-030-031-035-
036-037-038-041-GAZ040-063-064-065-077-090303-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
312 PM EDT TUE SEP 8 1998

THE OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA:

AIKEN        BAMBERG      BARNWELL     CALHOUN      CHESTERFIELD
CLARENDON    EDGEFIELD    FAIRFIELD    KERSHAW      LANCASTER
LEE          LEXINGTON    MCCORMICK    NEWBERRY     ORANGEBURG
RICHLAND     SALUDA       SUMTER

THE OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN GEORGIA:

BURKE        COLUMBIA     LINCOLN      MCDUFFIE     RICHMOND

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...
AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT WILL SPREAD THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AREA FOR
THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS THROUGH 7 PM. SOME OF
THESE STORMS WILL APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS WITH WIND GUSTS OVER 50 MPH AND
3/4 INCH OR LARGER HAIL. THE GREATEST THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
WILL EAST OF A LANCASTER-CAMDEN-SUMTER LINE BUT ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS
ARE POSSIBLE IN LEXINGTON..RICHLAND..NEWBERRY AND FAIRFIELD COUNTIES.
FARTHER TO THE WEST IN THE AUGUSTA-AIKEN AREA..SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT IS NOT EXPECTED.

ALL INTERESTS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE
WEATHER AND KEEP POSTED ON WEATHER STATEMENTS...WATCHES...
OR WARNINGS WHICH MAY BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
BE PREPARED TO TAKE QUICK ACTION IF THREATENING WEATHER IS
SIGHTED OR A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS OFFICIALS ARE REQUESTED TO REMAIN ALERT AND
MAKE PRELIMINARY PLANS TO DEAL WITH SEVERE WEATHER SHOULD IT OCCUR.
SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS...INCLUDING AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS...
SHOULD MONITOR THIS WEATHER SITUATION AND RELAY REPORTS PROMPTLY
TO THE NEAREST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.

TTH

Local storm report, Sep 8, 3:31 PM EDT, 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
331 PM EDT TUE SEP 08 1998

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

330 PM     CITY OF NEWBERRY          SC   WIND DAMAGE
09/08/98   NEWBERRY                       TREE DOWN AND NUMEROUS
                                          POWER OUTAGES

TA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 8, 2:50 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lancaster	25 min
Sep 8, 3:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Newberry	42 min
Sep 8, 3:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Kershaw	53 min
Sep 8, 3:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Sumter	38 min
Sep 8, 4:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Sumter	48 min
Sep 8, 5:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Clarendon	50 min
Sep 8, 6:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	31 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.