Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Charleston, SC

May 4, 1998Charleston County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1998, 3:41 PM EDT for Charleston County, South Carolina. It was in force for 34 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 4, 1998, 3:41 PM EDT (19:41 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 1998, 4:15 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Charleston County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:41 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
May 4, 3:45 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	North Charleston, SC
May 4, 3:45 PM EDT	Hail 1	(Chs)Charleston Afb, SC
May 4, 4:14 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	North Charleston, SC

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 4, 12:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 18 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1443 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 11 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.

000 
TTAA00 KCHS 041941 RRA
TORCHS
SCC019-042015-

BULLETIN...EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
341 PM EDT MON MAY 4 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 415 PM EDT

* AT 337 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO NEAR THE PLANTATIONS ON HIGHWAY 61... MOVING EAST-
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PLANTATIONS AT 345 PM EDT
  NORTH CHARLESTON AT 355 PM EDT

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

TJR

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, 12:34 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston, Colleton	61 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, 3:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	62 min
May 4, 4:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	63 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.