Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Charleston, SC

May 16, 2003Colleton County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at May 16, 2003, 6:45 PM EDT for Colleton County, South Carolina. It was in force for 30 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 16, 2003, 6:45 PM EDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2003, 7:15 PM EDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Colleton County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 43 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:47 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 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 59 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: 1150 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 629 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

429 
WFUS52 KCHS 162245
TORCHS
SCC029-162315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
645 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 715 PM EDT

* AT 645 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF RITTER...OR ABOUT 5 MILES
  SOUTH OF WALTERBORO...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 5 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  HENDERSONVILLE AND WALTERBORO...
  RITTER...
  GREEN POND AND ASHEPOO...

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...PLEASE CONTACT THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE IN CHARLESTON AT 843-747-5046.

LAT...LON 3295 8068 3281 8080 3264 8057 3283 8042

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 4:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Dorchester	29 min
May 16, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Colleton, Dorchester	34 min
May 16, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston, Colleton	29 min
May 16, 6:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Charleston, Colleton	44 min
May 16, 7:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Beaufort, Colleton	32 min
May 16, 7:38 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		67 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.