Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 261

May 6, 20036 counties in Georgia; 12 counties in North Carolina; 30 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2003, 1:55 AM EDT for 6 counties in Georgia; 12 counties in North Carolina; 30 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 6, 2003, 1:55 AM EDT (05:55 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 8:00 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 48 counties

Burke County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Jefferson County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Anson County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Cumberland County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Hoke County, NC, Richmond County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Scotland County, NC, Wayne County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Aiken County, SC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Chester County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Florence County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Horry County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:56 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.

Warnings issued inside it

5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 2:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CAE	Lincoln	4 hr
May 6, 2:09 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	CAE	Lexington	36 min
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, 6:21 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Bladen	39 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 155 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.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 060554
SEL1  
SPC WW 060555
GAZ000-NCZ000-SCZ000-CWZ000-061200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 261 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
155 AM EDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       EASTERN GEORGIA
       SOUTHERN NORTH CAROLINA
       SOUTH CAROLINA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY MORNING FROM 155 AM UNTIL 800 AM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF AUGUSTA GEORGIA TO
60 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF FAYETTEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.


OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 259...WW 260...


DISCUSSION...POTENTIAL WILL EXIST OVERNIGHT FOR SUPERCELLS WITH LOW
AMPLITUDE LEWPS/BOWS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ALONG SLOW MOVING WARM
FRONT OVER THE SC MIDLANDS.  DEEP SHEAR EXPECTED TO INCREASE OVER
REGION WITH TIME AS 70+ KT MID LEVEL SPEED MAX OVER MS/AL CONTINUES
ENEWD.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26035.


...CORFIDI

342,0823 353,0775 334,0775 324,0823

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 8:53 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartow, Carroll, Chattooga, Cherokee, Cobb, Dade and 9 more	2 hr
May 5, 9:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Bibb, Butts, Carroll, Clarke and 43 more	8 hr
May 5, 11:27 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee and 34 more	2 hr
May 6, 2:50 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Chattooga, Dade	6 hr
May 6, 2:53 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Barrow, Butts, Carroll, Clarke, Clayton and 40 more	2 hr
May 6, 6:06 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chattooga, Dade	3 hr
May 6, 6:23 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Burke, Columbia, Jefferson, McDuffie, Richmond	2 hr
May 6, 8:40 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Chattooga, Dade, Walker	5 hr
May 6, 10:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga and 41 more	5 hr
May 6, 11:26 AM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chattooga, Dade	2 hr
May 6, 1:15 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Chattooga and 50 more	90 min
May 6, 1:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Burke, Butts and 59 more	7 hr
May 6, 2:18 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Effingham, Screven	117 min
May 6, 4:41 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Burke and 60 more	2 hr
May 5, 11:05 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aiken, Berkeley, Calhoun, Chester, Chesterfield, Clarendon and 17 more	3 hr
May 6, 2:40 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun and 20 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2003 Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2003 Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2003 Every tornado watch 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.