Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2011

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 276

May 11, 201111 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 11, 2011, 1:41 AM EDT for 11 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 11, 2011, 1:41 AM EDT (05:41 UTC)
Expired
May 11, 2011, 5:00 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Berkeley County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:44 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 11, 1:43 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMDarlington, Dillon, Florence, Marlboro62 min
May 11, 2:31 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBerkeley, Charleston, Dorchester59 min
May 11, 2:39 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMDarlington, Florence, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg51 min
May 11, 2:43 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMDillon, Horry, Marion51 min
May 11, 3:02 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMFlorence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg73 min
May 11, 3:27 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBerkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester63 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, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 136 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 00:00Z on 2011-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2852 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2011-05-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 110 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
2852 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
899 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
221 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.0
Supercell composite
14.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 10, 9:01 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery, Bladen and 46 more59 min
May 10, 10:18 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell and 16 more27 min
May 10, 10:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlexander, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and 13 more4 hr
May 11, 12:14 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 17 more61 min
May 11, 2:37 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell and 14 more23 min
May 11, 6:06 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBuncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Polk, Transylvania54 min
May 11, 12:41 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chesterfield, Clarendon and 11 more3 hr
May 11, 1:35 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBerkeley, Charleston, Darlington, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown and 2 more25 min
May 11, 3:34 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBerkeley, Charleston, Chesterfield, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon and 7 more56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2011Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2011

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.