Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 85, NWS Columbia, SC

May 17, 1998Orangeburg County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1998, 7:47 PM EDT for Orangeburg County, South Carolina. It was in force for 58 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
May 17, 1998, 7:47 PM EDT (23:47 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1998, 8:45 PM EDT
In force
58 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 23:51 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 17, 6:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1998-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 583 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1998-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 86 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

584 
WUUS1 KCAE 172348 RRA
SVRCAE
SCC075-180045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
747 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 845 PM EDT 

* AT 745 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED 
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHEASTERN ORANGEBURG COUNTY 
  10 MILES NORTH OF BRANCHVILLE.  THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTH-SOUTHEAST 
  AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  BRANCHVILLE AT 800 PM

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING BASEBALL SIZE HAIL.

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.

AWP

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, 1 hour 25 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.

RCC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 4:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAERichland47 min
May 17, 5:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAESumter33 min
May 17, 7:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEOrangeburg41 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.