Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Charleston, SC

July 1, 2003Hampton County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at Jul 1, 2003, 11:49 PM EDT for Hampton County, South Carolina. It was in force for 41 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: Jul 1, 2003, 11:49 PM EDT (03:49 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2003, 12:30 AM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Charleston, SC
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Hampton County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 27 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:52 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
Jul 1, 9:55 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 257 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 769 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

270 
WFUS52 KCHS 020349
TORCHS
SCC049-020430-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1148 PM EDT TUE JUL 1 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1230 AM EDT

* AT 1148 PM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR ESTILL...OR ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF   
  HAMPTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.  ANOTHER STORM NEAR BRUNSON  
  IS ALSO CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  LURAY AND LENA...
  GIFFORD...
  HAMPTON...
  CROCKETVILLE AND BRUNSON...
  MILEY...

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME. TAKE COVER NOW. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR IT COMING...IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW

LAT...LON 3278 8131 3271 8122 3293 8101 3301 8107
          3297 8118

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 10:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Allendale	32 min
Jul 1, 11:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Allendale	33 min
Jul 2, 12:27 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Colleton	33 min
Jul 2, 12:59 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Colleton	31 min
Jul 2, 1:17 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Dorchester	58 min
Jul 2, 1:59 AM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		61 min
Jul 2, 2:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Colleton, Dorchester	30 min
Jul 2, 12:07 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		53 min
Jul 2, 5:53 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	CHS		37 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.