Alert archive / South Carolina / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 2173

December 17, 2012Effingham County, Screven County, Georgia; 9 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Dec 17, 2012, 2:28 PM EST for Effingham County, Screven County, Georgia; 9 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 92 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Dec 17, 2012, 2:28 PM EST (19:28 UTC)
Expired
Dec 17, 2012, 4:00 PM EST
In force
92 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
80%

Counties Effingham County, GA, Screven County, GA, Allendale County, SC, Beaufort County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Jasper County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:31 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Charleston AFB, SC (KCHS), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 37 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 2012-12-17Temperature 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 2012-12-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 79 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

550 
ACUS11 KWNS 171929
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 171928
SCZ000-GAZ000-172100-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2173
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0128 PM CST MON DEC 17 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SRN AND ERN SC

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY

VALID 171928Z - 172100Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...80 PERCENT

SUMMARY...STORMS CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN INTENSITY UPSTREAM...AND A
WATCH APPEARS LIKELY MAINLY FOR DAMAGING WINDS.

DISCUSSION...SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER 70S
AND DEWPOINTS IN THE MID 60S F ACROSS SERN GA AHEAD OF THE LINE OF
STORMS WHICH HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF BROAD ROTATION AT TIMES. DEEP LAYER
SHEAR PROFILES REMAIN STRONG AND THESE STORMS SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE
AIDED BY FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER TROUGH AS THEY TRAVEL
ACROSS SRN SC. DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE POSSIBLE...AND A TORNADO
CANNOT BE RULED OUT.

..JEWELL/CORFIDI.. 12/17/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...ILM...CHS...CAE...

LAT...LON   32058045 32078101 32268148 32718171 33078133 33448012
            33497963 33387911 33167908 32627959 32058045

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Dec 17, 11:49 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAppling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 31 more116 min
Dec 17, 1:30 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCAppling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brantley and 35 more5 hr
Dec 17, 2:55 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCBeaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 1 more2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in South Carolina, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Georgia, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.