Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Wilmington, NC

March 8, 1998Dillon County, South Carolina

NWS Wilmington, NC issued this tornado warning at Mar 8, 1998, 2:48 PM EST for Dillon County, South Carolina. It was in force for 32 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
Mar 8, 1998, 2:48 PM EST (19:48 UTC)
Expired
Mar 8, 1998, 3:20 PM EST
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Wilmington, NC
Area
Whole counties

County Dillon County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:50 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 8, 2:55 PM ESTTornado F0Fork, SCSHERIFF REPORTED TREES DOWNED, FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTED.

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 nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 176 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1998-03-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 232 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 1998-03-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 149 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
232 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
727 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

183 
WFUS1 KILM 081949 RRA
TORILM
SCC033-082020-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON NC
248 PM EST SUN MAR 8 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON NC HAS ISSUED A...

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  DILLON COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 320 PM EST

* AT 246 PM EST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 25
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF LUMBERTON OR IN THE VICINITY OF FLOYDALE
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE VICINITY OF...
        FLOYDALE                BY 249 PM EST


IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR OF A BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...LAY
DOWN IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LGE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wilmington, NC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 8, 2:56 PM ESTTornado WarningILMMarion29 min
Mar 8, 3:04 PM ESTTornado WarningILMHorry46 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.