Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 240

April 17, 199830 counties in Georgia; Union County, North Carolina; 17 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 17, 1998, 1:30 AM EDT for 30 counties in Georgia; Union County, North Carolina; 17 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 17, 1998, 1:30 AM EDT (05:30 UTC)
Expired
Apr 17, 1998, 7:00 AM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 48 counties

Banks County, GA, Barrow County, GA, Butts County, GA, Clarke County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Elbert County, GA, Franklin County, GA, Glascock County, GA, Greene County, GA, Hancock County, GA, Hart County, GA, Henry County, GA, Jackson County, GA, Jasper County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, Madison County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Morgan County, GA, Newton County, GA, Oconee County, GA, Oglethorpe County, GA, Putnam County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Rockdale County, GA, Spalding County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Taliaferro County, GA, Walton County, GA, Warren County, GA, Wilkes County, GA, Union County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Laurens County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:31 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.

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 17, 2:31 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPStephens34 min
Apr 17, 2:35 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPOconee45 min
Apr 17, 2:50 AM EDTTornado WarningGSPPickens45 min
Apr 17, 3:08 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPAnderson47 min
Apr 17, 3:29 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPSpartanburg46 min
Apr 17, 5:43 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningGSPAnderson2 hr
Apr 17, 6:11 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPGreenville, Laurens44 min
Apr 17, 6:50 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPLaurens, Spartanburg45 min

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 154 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-04-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1217 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 00:00Z on 1998-04-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 280 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1217 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
573 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
280 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.0
Supercell composite
10.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 16, 10:15 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clayton and 30 more6 hr
Apr 17, 8:00 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCBaldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Bulloch, Burke, Butts and 64 more6 hr
Apr 17, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBaker, Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Burke, Calhoun and 48 more5 hr
Apr 16, 11:00 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 34 more6 hr
Apr 17, 7:30 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Bertie, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Edgecombe and 23 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 1998Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 1998Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 1998Every tornado watch 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.