Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Columbia, SC
NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 6, 1999, 3:57 PM EDT for Sumter County, South Carolina. It was in force for 48 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
- May 6, 1999, 3:57 PM EDT (19:57 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 1999, 4:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Columbia, SC
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sumter County, SC
The radar
The Columbia radar (KCAE), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:58 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 4:05 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | Countywide, SC | Sheriff reported trees down countywide. |
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 6, 3:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 118 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 479 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -203 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 961 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 120 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCAE 061956 RRA TORCAE SCC085-062045- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC 357 PM EDT THU MAY 6 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SUMTER COUNTY IN SOUTH CAROLINA * UNTIL 445 PM EDT * AT 357 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BORDEN. THE STORM WAS MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT 40 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... BORDEN AT 402 PM EDT DALZELL AT 406 PM EDT IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO TAKE COVER! GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Columbia, SC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Edgefield, McCormick | 30 min |
| May 6, 2:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Edgefield, McCormick | 39 min |
| May 6, 2:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Richland | 35 min |
| May 6, 2:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Saluda | 45 min |
| May 6, 2:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lancaster | 41 min |
| May 6, 2:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lee | 51 min |
| May 6, 2:37 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Kershaw | 53 min |
| May 6, 2:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Aiken | 46 min |
| May 6, 2:57 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lexington, Newberry | 48 min |
| May 6, 3:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Fairfield | 42 min |
| May 6, 3:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Richland | 68 min |
| May 6, 3:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lee | 47 min |
| May 6, 3:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Orangeburg | 51 min |
| May 6, 3:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Chesterfield | 32 min |
| May 6, 3:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Kershaw | 41 min |
| May 6, 3:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Sumter | 63 min |
| May 6, 4:09 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lee | 51 min |
| May 6, 4:13 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Kershaw, Lee | 47 min |
| May 6, 4:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Clarendon | 49 min |
| May 6, 4:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Chesterfield | 46 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes 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.