Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Charleston, SC

July 2, 2003Colleton County, South Carolina

NWS Charleston, SC issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 2003, 12:59 AM EDT for Colleton County, South Carolina. It was in force for 31 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 2, 2003, 12:59 AM EDT (04:59 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2003, 1:30 AM EDT
In force: 31 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), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:02 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, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 82 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.

332 
WFUS52 KCHS 020459
TORCHS
SCC029-020530-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
1259 AM EDT WED JUL 2 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHARLESTON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 130 AM EDT

* AT 1259 AM EDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO NEAR PADGETTS...OR ABOUT 17 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  BAMBERG...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  PADGETTS AND COLLETON...
  SMOAKS...

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 3308 8097 3303 8089 3312 8068 3316 8073
          3318 8080

$$

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 1, 11:49 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Hampton	41 min
Jul 2, 12:27 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CHS	Colleton	33 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.