Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 6, NWS Columbia, SC

January 16, 1998Chesterfield County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 16, 1998, 10:06 AM EST for Chesterfield County, South Carolina. 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: Jan 16, 1998, 10:06 AM EST (15:06 UTC)
Expired: Jan 16, 1998, 10:45 AM EST
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Chesterfield County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:07 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
Jan 16, 10:15 AM EST	Hail 0.75	Chesterfield, SC	SKYWARN spotter reports 3/4 inch hail covering the ground.

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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 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 KCAE 161506 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC025-161545-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
1006 AM EST FRI JAN 16 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  SOUTH CAROLINA
 
   ...CHESTERFIELD COUNTY
 
AT 1005 AM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR THE
CITY OF CHESTERFIELD MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THE STORM WILL MOVE
INTO NORTHWEST MARLBORO COUNTY AROUND 1030 AM. LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS
TO 35 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE
MOBILE HOMES.  FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR.  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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 16, 5:46 AM EST, 4 hours 20 minutes before

SCZ015-016-018-020-021-022-025-026-027-028-029-030-031-035-
036-037-038-041-GAZ040-063-064-065-077-161636-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
546 AM EST FRI JAN 16 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

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...OVER ALABAMA EARLY THIS MORNING...WILL
CONTINUE MOVING NORTHEASTWARD TODAY. THIS SYSTEM IS VERY COLD IN THE
MIDDLE LEVELS...AND WILL PRODUCE AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS ACROSS THE AREA
THIS MORNING INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO
MOVE OFFSHORE THIS AFTERNOON.

SCATTERED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO
THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA EARLY AND SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH
THE MORNING. THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE WIND GUST TO 35
MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND SMALL HAIL.

CURRENT DATA DOES NOT FAVOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.
THEREFORE...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD
NOT BE REQUIRED.

CDL

Special weather statement, Jan 16, 5:46 AM EST, 4 hours 20 minutes before

SCZ015-016-018-020-021-022-025-026-027-028-029-030-031-035-
036-037-038-041-GAZ040-063-064-065-077-161636-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
546 AM EST FRI JAN 16 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

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...OVER ALABAMA EARLY THIS MORNING...WILL
CONTINUE MOVING NORTHEASTWARD TODAY. THIS SYSTEM IS VERY COLD IN THE
MIDDLE LEVELS...AND WILL PRODUCE AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS ACROSS THE AREA
THIS MORNING INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO
MOVE OFFSHORE THIS AFTERNOON.

SCATTERED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO
THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA EARLY AND SPREAD NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH
THE MORNING. THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE WIND GUST TO 35
MPH...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND SMALL HAIL.

CURRENT DATA DOES NOT FAVOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.
THEREFORE...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD
NOT BE REQUIRED.

CDL

Local storm report, Jan 16, 8:04 AM EST, 2 hours 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
804 AM EST FRI JAN 16 1998

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

720 AM     12 SW AIKEN               SC   .75 INCH HAIL
01/16/98   AIKEN                          SOUTH CAROLINA STATE
                                          POLICE REPORTED DIME-SIZE
                                          HAIL 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
                                          AIKEN ON INTERSTATE 20.

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 16, 7:00 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	30 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.