Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 12, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 11:59 PM EDT for McCormick County, South Carolina. It was in force for 31 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
- May 7, 1998, 11:59 PM EDT (03:59 UTC)
- Expired
- May 8, 1998, 12:30 AM EDT
- In force
- 31 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County McCormick County, SC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:02 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 8, 12:13 AM EDT | Tornado F0 | Meriwether, SC | Sheriff reported trees down with minor damage to some homes. |
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, 9:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 211 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
- 2212 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 923 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 96 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 181 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 9.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
995 WFUS1 KCAE 080400 RRA TORCAE SCC065-080430- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 1159 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN MCCORMICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 1230 AM EDT * WEAHTER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO IN SOUTHERN MCCORMICK COUNTY NEAR CLARKS HILL DAM. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST A 35 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... CLARKS HILL AT 1215 AM TTH
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, 8:22 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Aiken | 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 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, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.