Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Columbia, SC

August 20, 1999Newberry County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at Aug 20, 1999, 7:38 PM EDT for Newberry County, South Carolina. It was in force for 37 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: Aug 20, 1999, 7:38 PM EDT (23:38 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 1999, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Newberry County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:38 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
Aug 20, 8:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Newberry, SC	Sheriff reported trees down.
Aug 20, 8:12 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Pomaria, SC	Sheriff reported trees down.

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, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 2236 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -89 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 978 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 17 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 KCAE 202338 RRA
TORCAE
SCC071-210015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
738 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 815 PM EDT 

* AT 738 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A TORNADO 5 MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST OF POMARIA. THE STORM WAS 
  MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  POMARIA AT 758 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.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU ARE IN 
ITS PATH. 

CDL/RJL

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.

NWS Columbia, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 20, 2:48 PM EDT, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 2:48 PM EDT, 4 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
248 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

FORECAST PROBLEM IS MOVEMENT OF SURFACE FRONT AND ASSOCIATED THREAT OF
CONVECTION. ETA KEEPS FRONT BACK TOWARD THE UPSTATE THROUGH 48 HOURS.
AVN AND NGM A BIT FASTER IN PUSHING THE FRONT ON EAST DURING SATURDAY.
UPPER AIR PATTERN SIMILAR WITH ONE SHORT WAVE CROSSING THE STATE THIS
EVENING AND EARLY TONIGHT. UPPER TROFFINESS CONTINUES OVER THE EAST WITH
A WEAK SHORT WAVE CROSSING SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH MAIN ENERGY STAYING
NORTH.
PLAN TO KEEP A CHANCE OF TSTMS IN THE FORECAST TONIGHT..THEN A SLIGHT
CHANCE FROM CAE AND AGS ON EAST FOR SATURDAY. FORECAST DRY SATURDAY
NIGHT THROUGH THE EXTENDED PD.
GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK OKAY WITH LOWS IN THE MID/UPPER 60S AND HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 80S/LOW 90S.

CAE   69/92/68/92   30/20/10
AGS   67/93/66/92   30/20/10

.CAE...NONE.

MORRISON

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 20, 6:31 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
631 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 1999

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

600 PM     23 SSW AGS                GA   WIND DAMAGE
08/20/99   BURKE                          BURKE COUNTY DISPATCH
                                          REPORTED TREE DOWN ON CAR
                                          BETWEEN MIDVILLE AND
                                          WAYNESBORO

RJL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 19, 9:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	29 min
Aug 19, 10:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	33 min
Aug 19, 10:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Orangeburg	43 min
Aug 19, 10:38 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Bamberg	37 min
Aug 19, 11:42 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Barnwell	33 min
Aug 20, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	McCormick	60 min
Aug 20, 7:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Newberry	29 min
Aug 20, 7:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington, Richland	50 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.