Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Columbia, SC

April 24, 1999Saluda County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at Apr 24, 1999, 4:39 PM EDT for Saluda County, South Carolina. It was in force for 66 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: Apr 24, 1999, 4:39 PM EDT (20:39 UTC)
Expired: Apr 24, 1999, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Saluda County, SC

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 24, 4:39 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Saluda, SC	An F0 tornado intermittently touched down in wooded areas and fields, narrowly missing some homes. Damage was limited to 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 24, 4:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 202 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: 1256 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -147 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1157 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 125 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KCAE 242040 RRA
TORCAE
SCC081-242145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
439 PM EDT SAT APR 24 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA SC HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT 

* AT 436 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A TORNADO 18 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF THE CITY OF SALUDA AND 
  NEAR THE CHAPPELLS AREA. THE AREA ALONG AND NEAR HIGHWAY 
  39 IS MOST THREATENED. MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST AT 
  20 MPH.

DO NOT STAY IN A CAR OR MOBILE HOME DURING A TORNADO. GO TO  
A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER 
IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT. 

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

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

JDB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 24, 3:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	31 min
Apr 24, 4:25 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Newberry	65 min
Apr 24, 5:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Aiken	25 min
Apr 24, 5:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Aiken	51 min
Apr 24, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Barnwell	42 min
Apr 24, 6:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Bamberg	42 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.