Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 106

March 24, 201238 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Mar 24, 2012, 1:53 PM EDT for 38 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 24, 2012, 1:53 PM EDT (17:53 UTC)
Expired
Mar 24, 2012, 8:54 PM EDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 38 counties

Aiken County, SC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Beaufort County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Calhoun County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Chesterfield County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Darlington County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Jasper County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Sumter County, SC, Union County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC, York County, SC

The radar

The Columbia radar (KCAE), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:54 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
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 24, 2:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCHSBeaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Jasper62 min
Mar 24, 2:36 PM EDTTornado WarningCHSCharleston, Colleton, Dorchester23 min
Mar 24, 2:37 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEAiken, Calhoun, Lexington, Orangeburg38 min
Mar 24, 3:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Lexington, Richland, Sumter59 min
Mar 24, 3:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPYork36 min
Mar 24, 4:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPYork41 min
Mar 24, 4:39 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAENewberry51 min
Mar 24, 4:39 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPChester, Laurens, Union31 min
Mar 24, 5:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPChester, York24 min
Mar 24, 5:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAELexington, Richland39 min
Mar 24, 5:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPChester, Union, York35 min
Mar 24, 5:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEEdgefield, Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, Richland, Saluda47 min
Mar 24, 5:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFairfield35 min
Mar 24, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEAiken, Fairfield, Lexington, Richland46 min
Mar 24, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGSPChester10 min
Mar 24, 6:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFairfield, Lancaster43 min
Mar 24, 6:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEFairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Richland49 min
Mar 24, 6:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEChesterfield, Lancaster48 min
Mar 24, 7:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Kershaw, Lee, Richland, Sumter39 min
Mar 24, 7:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEBamberg, Barnwell47 min
Mar 24, 8:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAECalhoun, Kershaw, Lee, Richland, Sumter45 min
Mar 24, 8:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCAEBamberg, Barnwell, Orangeburg46 min
Mar 24, 8:51 PM EDTTornado WarningCAEBamberg, Orangeburg39 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, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 164 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 2012-03-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 588 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 12:00Z on 2012-03-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 98 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
588 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
734 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
118 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 24, 12:03 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell and 20 more117 min
Mar 24, 12:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Anson, Ashe, Avery and 33 more7 hr
Mar 24, 2:31 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell and 4 more59 min
Mar 24, 2:54 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaswell, Forsyth, Guilford, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and 1 more66 min
Mar 24, 3:38 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson and 30 more7 hr
Mar 24, 4:16 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Iredell, Mecklenburg and 6 more59 min
Mar 24, 6:03 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret and 24 more2 hr
Mar 24, 6:43 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCCaswell, Rockingham4 hr
Mar 24, 6:58 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlexander, Alleghany, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba and 9 more92 min
Mar 24, 7:34 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Anson, Caswell, Chatham, Cumberland, Durham and 23 more116 min
Mar 24, 12:29 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper61 min
Mar 24, 7:21 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston and 17 more84 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2012Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.