Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 789

December 2, 200917 counties in Georgia; 23 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 2, 2009, 2:08 PM EST for 17 counties in Georgia; 23 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 2, 2009, 2:08 PM EST (19:08 UTC)
Expired
Dec 2, 2009, 9:49 PM EST
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
0.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 40 counties

Bryan County, GA, Bulloch County, GA, Burke County, GA, Candler County, GA, Chatham County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Effingham County, GA, Evans County, GA, Jenkins County, GA, Liberty County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, Long County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, McIntosh County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Screven County, GA, Tattnall County, GA, Aiken County, SC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Beaufort County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Jasper County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 43 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:09 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
40%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
5%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 2, 3:14 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAELincoln46 min
Dec 2, 3:26 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBulloch, Candler, Evans, Screven, Tattnall49 min
Dec 2, 3:36 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSEvans, Liberty, Long, Tattnall39 min
Dec 2, 3:59 PM ESTTornado WarningCHSEvans, Liberty, Long, Tattnall46 min
Dec 2, 4:05 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBryan, Bulloch, Evans, Liberty, Long55 min
Dec 2, 4:33 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Screven57 min
Dec 2, 6:29 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBryan, Chatham, Effingham, Liberty, Long, McIntosh61 min
Dec 2, 7:46 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBeaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester59 min
Dec 2, 8:37 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBerkeley, Charleston53 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 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 140 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2009-12-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Charleston AFB, SC at 12:00Z on 2009-12-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 368 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
438 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
626 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 2, 4:11 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCBaker, Calhoun, Clay, Decatur, Dougherty, Early and 8 more6 hr
Dec 2, 6:02 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaker, Calhoun, Clay, Decatur, Dougherty, Early and 8 more58 min
Dec 2, 9:52 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAppling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 37 more83 min
Dec 2, 10:32 AM ESTTornado WatchSPCAppling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill and 59 more6 hr
Dec 2, 12:48 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAppling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 37 more117 min
Dec 2, 1:31 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaldwin, Bleckley, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler and 23 more89 min
Dec 2, 2:46 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCAppling, Bacon, Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Clinch and 5 more7 hr
Dec 2, 5:44 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Columbia and 11 more91 min
Dec 2, 6:39 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Pierce, Wayne96 min
Dec 2, 6:59 PM ESTTornado Watch PDSSPCDarlington, Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion and 2 more8 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2009Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2009Every tornado watch in 2009

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.