Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2009
Tornado Watch 803
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 9, 2009, 6:11 AM EST for Burke County, Columbia County, Richmond County, Georgia; 31 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 9, 2009, 6:11 AM EST (11:11 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 9, 2009, 10:00 AM EST
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 34 counties
Burke County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Aiken County, SC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Horry County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro 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), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:10 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 9, 6:19 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Richmond | 56 min |
| Dec 9, 6:24 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster | 66 min |
| Dec 9, 6:34 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Chesterfield | 41 min |
| Dec 9, 6:39 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, Richland, Sumter | 66 min |
| Dec 9, 7:03 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Burke | 57 min |
| Dec 9, 7:52 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lee, Sumter | 23 min |
| Dec 9, 8:04 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CAE | Richland | 36 min |
| Dec 9, 8:14 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Horry, Marion, Marlboro | 33 min |
| Dec 9, 8:43 AM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Dillon | 35 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, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 114 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 440 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 527 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 844 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 8, 11:24 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Carroll, Chattahoochee, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Muscogee and 2 more | 96 min |
| Dec 9, 12:09 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clayton and 19 more | 5 hr |
| Dec 9, 3:20 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bartow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Calhoun and 56 more | 85 min |
| Dec 9, 4:32 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley and 64 more | 5 hr |
| Dec 9, 8:15 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Ben Hill, Candler, Coffee, Colquitt, Decatur and 13 more | 60 min |
| Dec 9, 11:29 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brantley, Brooks, Charlton, Clinch, Echols, Lanier and 3 more | 91 min |
| Dec 9, 7:18 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Horry | 57 min |
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.