Alert archive / South Carolina / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 278
The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 15, 2012, 2:27 PM EDT for 17 counties in Georgia; 6 counties in North Carolina; 34 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 15, 2012, 2:27 PM EDT (18:27 UTC)
- Expired
- May 15, 2012, 9:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 57 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, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Columbus County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Pender County, NC, Robeson County, NC, 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, 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, Jasper County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Lee County, SC, Lexington County, SC, Marion County, SC, Marlboro County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Sumter County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC
The radar
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:27 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
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 3:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Bryan, Liberty, Long, McIntosh | 62 min |
| May 15, 3:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Screven | 20 min |
| May 15, 4:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Bladen, Columbus, Robeson | 34 min |
| May 15, 4:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Bryan, Chatham, Liberty | 56 min |
| May 15, 4:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Fairfield, Newberry | 26 min |
| May 15, 4:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Bryan, Chatham, Effingham, Liberty | 63 min |
| May 15, 4:59 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lexington | 31 min |
| May 15, 5:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper | 65 min |
| May 15, 5:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Newberry, Saluda | 28 min |
| May 15, 5:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Clarendon, Orangeburg | 42 min |
| May 15, 5:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Newberry | 24 min |
| May 15, 6:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Kershaw, Richland | 23 min |
| May 15, 6:39 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Kershaw, Lee, Richland, Sumter | 36 min |
| May 15, 7:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Lexington | 25 min |
| May 15, 8:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Richland, Sumter | 46 min |
| May 15, 8:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILM | Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marlboro | 37 min |
| May 15, 8:37 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Lexington | 23 min |
| May 15, 9:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Richland | 45 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, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 98 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
- 1682 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 555 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 51 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 1:07 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Burke, Columbia, Elbert, Glascock, Hart, Lincoln and 4 more | 113 min |
| May 15, 3:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Elbert, Franklin, Habersham, Hart, Rabun, Stephens | 7 hr |
| May 15, 5:38 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brantley, Camden, Charlton | 97 min |
| May 15, 6:30 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Candler, Chatham, Columbia and 16 more | 90 min |
| May 15, 2:08 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Alleghany, Burke, Caldwell, Caswell and 21 more | 67 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Carolina, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Georgia, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North 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.