Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Columbia, SC

February 19, 1999Orangeburg County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at Feb 19, 1999, 12:56 PM EST for Orangeburg County, South Carolina. It was in force for 19 min. 2 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: Feb 19, 1999, 12:56 PM EST (17:56 UTC)
Expired: Feb 19, 1999, 1:15 PM EST
In force: 19 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Orangeburg County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:55 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	Remark
Feb 19, 1:07 PM EST	Tornado F0	Woodford, SC	Sheriff reported tornado touchdown southwest of Woodford. Damage survey revieled an F0 touched down near a church and went into the woods.
Feb 19, 1:13 PM EST	Hail 1.75	Orangeburg, SC	Fire dept. reported golf ball size hail northwest of Orangeburg.

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, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 96 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: 18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -96 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 657 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 249 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.

999 
WFUS1 KCAE 191802 RRA
TORCAE
SCC075-191815-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
1256 PM EST FRI FEB 19 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN ORANGEBURG COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 115 PM EST 

* AT 1254 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO ALONG THE LEXINGTON AND ORANGEBURG COUNTY 
  LINE. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND 
  WILL MOVE NEAR WOODFORD AT 115 PM EST.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED 
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT 
AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. 

AMATEUR RADIO AND OTHER SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO MONITOR THIS 
STORM AND RELAY REPORTS PROMPTLY TO THE NEAREST NATIONAL WEATHER 
SERVICE OFFICE.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 19, 10:50 AM EST, 2 hours 6 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA, SC
1050 AM EST FRI FEB 19 1999

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

1020 AM    W AIKEN COUNTY            SC   1.75 INCH HAIL
02/19/99   AIKEN                          SHERIFF REPORTED GOLF
                                          BALL SIZE HAIL

MOORE

Local storm report, Feb 19, 12:42 PM EST, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
042 PM EST FRI FEB 19 1999

TIME (EST) .....CITY LOCATION....... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

1230 PM    SANDY RUN                 SC   OTHER
02/19/99   CALHOUN                        OBSERVER IN SANDY RUN
                                          REPORTED PEA-SIZED HAIL
                                          COVERING THE GROUND UP TO
                                          1 INCH DEPTH VICINITY HWY
                                          21.

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 19, 10:13 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	47 min
Feb 19, 1:35 PM EST	Tornado Warning	CAE	Calhoun	40 min
Feb 19, 2:22 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Clarendon, Orangeburg	38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.