Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Columbia, SC

May 6, 2003Lexington County, South Carolina

NWS Columbia, SC issued this tornado warning at May 6, 2003, 2:09 AM EDT for Lexington County, South Carolina. It was in force for 36 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, 2:09 AM EDT (06:09 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 2:45 AM EDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Columbia, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lexington County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 23 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:10 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 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, 1:55 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 6.2 hours before the alert went out and 179 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.

940 
WFUS52 KCAE 060609
TORCAE
SCC063-060645-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLUMBIA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
    NORTHERN LEXINGTON COUNTY IN CENTRAL SOUTH CAROLINA

* UNTIL 245 AM EDT.

* AT 206 AM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO ALONG THE SALUDA LEXINGTON COUNTY LINE...ABOUT 7 MILES
  NORTH OF BATESBURG LEESVILLE...OR ABOUT 15 MILES WEST OF
  LEXINGTON...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
    RIDGE ROAD CROSSROADS.
    LAKE MURRAY
    LEXINGTON.

SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM IN JOHNSTON.

TAKE COVER NOW.

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

LAT...LON 3417 8130 3409 8127 3408 8114 3400 8109
          3390 8154 3408 8146 3406 8139 3412 8142

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, 1:32 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Saluda	28 min
May 6, 2:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Edgefield, McCormick, Saluda	4 hr
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.