Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 57, NWS Charleston, SC

May 4, 1998Charleston County, Colleton County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 1998, 12:34 AM EDT for Charleston County, Colleton County, South Carolina. It was in force for 61 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 4, 1998, 12:34 AM EDT (04:34 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 1998, 1:35 AM EDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

Counties Charleston County, SC, Colleton County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:37 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 3, 11:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 30 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: 21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -216 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1172 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

632 
WUUS1 KCHS 040435 RRA
SVRCHS
SCC019-029-040535-

BULLETIN...IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1234 AM EDT MON MAY 4 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CHARLESTON COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA
  SOUTHERN COLLETON COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 135 AM EDT

* AT 1230 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR HOLLYWOOD AND RAVENEL... MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE...
  ALONG HIGHWAY 17 NEAR RANTOWLES BY 1235 AM
  MOVING THROUGH CHARLESTON AND VICINITY FROM 1240 TO 1255 AM

  ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST NORTHEAST OF BEAUFORT AT 1230 AM
  WILL MOVE....  ACROSS SOUTHERN COLLETON COUNTY BY 1240 AM
  AND ACROSS WESTERN PORTIONS OF CHARLESTON CTY FROM 1245 TO 110 AM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS. LARGE
HAIL IS LIKELY...WITH STRONG DAMAGING WIND GUSTS POSSIBLE.

ML

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.

NWS Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 3, 8:42 PM EDT, 3 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 3, 8:42 PM EDT, 3 hours 52 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
842 PM EDT SUN MAY 3 1998

SATIMG/WSR-88D INDICATE AN AREA OF TSTMS OVR MUCH OF
THE SOUTHERN HALF OF GA ATTM. THE AREA CONTINUES TO
MOVE EASTWARD.

ATL...WITH THE AREA OF PRECIP AS LARGE AS IT IS...HOW
ABOUT A 50% POP FOR SE GA?

CAE...TEMPS ALREADY IN THW LWE 60S (62 CHS/61 OGB)
AROUND 60 MIGHT BE BETTER...SINCE THERE WL BE SOME
BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS AS SHOWN BY SATIMG.

CWF...DO. NOT EXPECT TO MAKE ANY MAJOR CHANGES ON CWF.

.CHS...NONE.

JH

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 3, 6:58 PM EDT, 5 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
658 PM EDT SUN MAY 03 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0435 PM    15 SE BEAUFORT            SC   .88 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   BEAUFORT                       FRIPP ISLAND SECURITY.
                                          NICKEL HAIL

Local storm report, May 3, 10:46 PM EDT, 1 hour 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1046 PM EDT SUN MAY 03 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 PM    HAGAN                     GA   1 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   EVANS                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL. SPOTTER
                                          REPORT

Local storm report, May 3, 11:12 PM EDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1112 PM EDT SUN MAY 03 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1108 PM    PEMBROKE                  GA   1 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   BRYAN                          .88 TO 1 INCH HAIL
                                          DISPATCH REPORT

Local storm report, May 4, 12:06 AM EDT, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1206 AM EDT MON MAY 04 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1130 PM    MELDRIM                   GA   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/03/98   EFFINGHAM                      GOLF BALL HAIL. DEPUTY
                                          REPORT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 11:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Jasper	59 min
May 3, 11:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Beaufort	59 min
May 4, 1:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Allendale	32 min
May 4, 1:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	47 min
May 4, 2:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	47 min
May 4, 2:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	49 min
May 4, 3:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Colleton	33 min
May 4, 3:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	50 min
May 4, 3:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	46 min
May 4, 3:41 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Charleston	34 min
May 4, 3:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	62 min
May 4, 4:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina, 1998 Every 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.