Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Columbia, SC

May 6, 2003Saluda County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 6, 2003, 1:32 AM EDT for Saluda County, South Carolina. It was in force for 28 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 6, 2003, 1:32 AM EDT (05:32 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 2:00 AM EDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Saluda County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:31 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 2251 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 512 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.3
Supercell composite: 10.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KCAE 060532
TORCAE
SCC081-060600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLUMBIA SC
131 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 200 AM EDT.

* AT 131 AM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO JUST NORTHEAST OF JOHNSTON ALONG THE EDGEFIELD SALUDA
  COUNTY LINE...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
    WARD.
    RIDGE SPRING.
    MONETTA.

TAKE COVER NOW.

GO TO A BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

LAT...LON 3390 8187 3402 8150 3389 8156 3382 8165

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 1:23 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Edgefield	22 min
May 6, 2:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Edgefield, McCormick, Saluda	4 hr
May 6, 2:09 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	36 min
May 6, 2:26 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Aiken	49 min
May 6, 2:47 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lexington	43 min
May 6, 2:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	McCormick	50 min
May 6, 3:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	McCormick	27 min
May 6, 3:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield, Saluda	45 min
May 6, 3:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	McCormick	48 min
May 6, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken, Lexington	49 min
May 6, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Edgefield	46 min
May 6, 4:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Richland	46 min
May 6, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	42 min
May 6, 4:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Lee, Sumter	46 min
May 6, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Calhoun	46 min
May 6, 5:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CAE	Aiken	27 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.