Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 8, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1998, 7:46 PM EDT for Edgefield County, Saluda County, South Carolina. It was in force for 29 min. 4 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, 7:46 PM EDT (23:46 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 1998, 8:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Edgefield County, SC, Saluda County, SC
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 7:47 PM EDT | Tornado F2 | Johnston, SC | An F2 tornado touched down west of Johnston and moved into the community just after 8 pm EDT causing major damage to several homes and businesses. |
| May 7, 8:12 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Edgefield, SC | SKYWARN spotter reported golf ball size hail near SC highway 230. |
| May 7, 8:12 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Ward, SC | An F1 tornado damaged several buildings and homes and picked up two cotton bin holders and threw them 100 yds. |
| May 7, 8:15 PM EDT | Tornado F3 | Edgefield, SC | An F3 tornado either destroyed or severely damaged around 60 homes and mobile homes and a church. One person was killed when her mobile home took a direct hit and was completely destroyed. Widespread trees were taken down. |
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 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 204 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
- 280 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -25 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 931 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 126 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 1.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
486 WFUS1 KCAE 072347 RRA TORCAE SCC037-081-080015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 746 PM EDT THU MAY 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... EASTERN EDGEFIELD COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTHERN SALUDA COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 815 PM EDT * WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR THE TOWN OF JOHNSTON. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH TOWARD SOUTHERN SALUDA COUNTY. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... WARD AT 805 PM MONETTA AT 815 PM RIDGE SPRINGS AT 815 PM 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, 6:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | McCormick | 61 min |
| May 7, 6:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Edgefield | 61 min |
| May 7, 6:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Saluda | 62 min |
| May 7, 7:10 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Edgefield | 35 min |
| May 7, 7:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | McCormick | 61 min |
| May 7, 7:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | McCormick | 33 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.