Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Charleston, SC

May 4, 2002Dorchester County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at May 4, 2002, 8:21 PM EDT for Dorchester County, South Carolina. It was in force for 24 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: May 4, 2002, 8:21 PM EDT (00:21 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 2002, 8:45 PM EDT
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Whole counties

County Dorchester County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:24 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 4, 8:30 PM EDT	Tornado F0	St George, SC	A tornado touched down briefly just outside of St. George. Several trees had branches that were twisted off and a several trees were pushed over.
May 4, 8:55 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Ridgeville, SC	Brief tornado touch down in a wooded area several small trees were pushed over and some small limbs were twisted off.

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 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 43 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: 788 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 568 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 8.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KCHS 050021
TORCHS
SCC035-050045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
821 PM EDT SAT MAY 4 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN DORCHESTER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA.

* UNTIL 845 PM EDT.

* AT 821 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR
  REEVESVILLE...OR ABOUT 6 MILES WEST OF SAINT GEORGE...MOVING EAST
  AT 50 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  HARLEYVILLE.

$$

LAT...LON 3331 8075 3318 8072 3307 8041 3322 8044

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 8:47 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester	58 min
May 4, 9:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Berkeley, Charleston	28 min
May 4, 11:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	36 min
May 4, 11:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	37 min
May 4, 11:35 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		55 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.