Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 84, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1998, 7:04 PM EDT for Orangeburg 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
- May 17, 1998, 7:04 PM EDT (23:04 UTC)
- Expired
- May 17, 1998, 7:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 41 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Orangeburg County, SC
The radar
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:06 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 7:10 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Orangeburg, SC | Sheriff reported golf ball size hail at the intersection of SC hwys 176 and 301. |
| May 17, 7:15 PM EDT | Hail 2.75 | Rowesville, SC | Sheriff reported baseball size hail at Rowesville. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 6:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 96 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 583 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -175 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1278 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 86 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 126 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
388 WUUS1 KCAE 172305 RRA SVRCAE SCC075-172345- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 704 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... EASTERN ORANGEBURG COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 745 PM EDT * NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ORANGEBURG MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... BOWMAN AT 7:15 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. BLP
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, May 17, 6:22 PM EDT, 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
622 PM EDT SUN MAY 17 1998
TIME (EDT) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST ...EVENT/REMARKS...
.....COUNTY LOCATION.....
607 PM SUMTER SC .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/98 SUMTER SUMTER CITY OFFICER
REPORTED DIME SIZE HAIL ON
POCALLA ROAD.
RCCThe office that day
Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 4:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Richland | 47 min |
| May 17, 5:57 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Sumter | 33 min |
| May 17, 7:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Orangeburg | 58 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998Every 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.