Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Charleston, SC

May 6, 2003Charleston County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at May 6, 2003, 7:03 PM EDT for Charleston County, South Carolina. It was in force for 27 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, 7:03 PM EDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Charleston County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:07 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, 2:40 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 14 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: 870 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 821 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 4.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS52 KCHS 062303
TORCHS
SCC019-062330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
702 PM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CHARLESTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA...

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT

* AT 702 PM EDT...STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO JUST WEST OF
  LADSON MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED NEAR...
  LADSON AT 710 PM.

TAKE COVER NOW IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING...IT MAY
BE TOO LATE TO GET TO A SAFE PLACE

MOTORISTS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD LOOK FOR SHELTER IN A
NEARBY SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...TAKE COVER IN A DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND PROTECT YOUR HEAD AND BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
OVERPASSES ARE NOT SAFE

LAT...LON 3300 8017 3294 8009 3294 8005 3302 8012

$$

24

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 5:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	58 min
May 6, 6:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Colleton, Dorchester	52 min
May 6, 6:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	33 min
May 6, 6:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Berkeley	58 min
May 6, 6:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	37 min
May 6, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Berkeley, Dorchester	62 min
May 6, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Colleton	63 min
May 6, 7:16 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		59 min
May 6, 7:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston	40 min
May 6, 7:45 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		45 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.