Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Columbia, SC

May 7, 1998Aiken County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 8:22 PM EDT for Aiken County, South Carolina. It was in force for 53 min. 3 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 7, 1998, 8:22 PM EDT (00:22 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1998, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Aiken County, SC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 7, 8:45 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Aiken, SC	An F0 tornado touched down near I-20 and SC highway 19 taking down trees.
May 7, 8:47 PM EDT	Hail 0.88	Aiken, SC	SKYWARN spotter reported nickel size hail.
May 7, 9:02 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Salley, SC	Spotter reported trees down, some on houses.

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 7, 5:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 168 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: 909 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -107 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 990 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 5.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

698 
WFUS1 KCAE 080023 RRA
TORCAE
SCC003-080115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
822 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  AIKEN COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT 

* WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO MOVING INTO 
  NORTHERN AIKEN COUNTY FROM SOUTHERN  SALUDA COUNTY. A TORNADO 
  WAS REPORTED IN THE TOWN OF WARD JUST AFTER 8 PM.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  NEW HOLLAND AT 840 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE IN 
ITS PATH. 

LCVCC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 8:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	85 min
May 7, 8:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Edgefield	53 min
May 7, 9:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg, Barnwell, Orangeburg	65 min
May 7, 9:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield	67 min
May 7, 11:59 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	McCormick	31 min
May 8, 12:28 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	47 min
May 8, 2:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Fairfield	45 min
May 8, 2:33 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	42 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.