Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Columbia, SC

May 7, 1998Lincoln County, Georgia

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 7:37 PM EDT for Lincoln County, Georgia. It was in force for 38 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, 7:37 PM EDT (23:37 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1998, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Lincoln County, GA

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:36 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 7, 7:41 PM EDT	Tornado F2	Lincolnton, GA	An F2 tornado hit the Pine Woods subdivision destryoing 12 homes and causing major damage to 15 homes and minor damage to 8 homes.
May 7, 7:47 PM EDT	Tornado F1	New Hope, GA	An F1 tornado did major damage and minor damage to several homes and mobile homes.
May 7, 7:53 PM EDT	Tornado F2	New Hope, GA	An F2 tornado destroyed 7 homes and did major and minor damage to about a dozen others at Indian Cove.

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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 196 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: 650 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -129 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 521 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 193 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

457 
WFUS1 KCAE 072338 RRA
TORCAE
GAC181-080015-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY IN GEORGIA

* UNTIL 815 PM EDT 

* NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE 
  TORNADO ACROSS EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY....JUST SOUTH OF LINCOLNTON.

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

LVCC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 1:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Burke	29 min
May 7, 6:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lincoln	57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.