Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2012
Tornado Watch 36
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 24, 2012, 9:17 AM EST for 5 counties in Georgia; 28 counties in North Carolina; 7 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 24, 2012, 9:17 AM EST (14:17 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 24, 2012, 4:00 PM EST
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 70 kt
All 40 counties
Franklin County, GA, Habersham County, GA, Hart County, GA, Rabun County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Alexander County, NC, Avery County, NC, Buncombe County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davie County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Graham County, NC, Haywood County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Macon County, NC, Madison County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Mitchell County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Swain County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Yancey County, NC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, York County, SC
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:21 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
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 80%
- 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
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
3 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 2:27 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Alexander, Catawba | 28 min |
| Feb 24, 2:38 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Davie, Iredell | 52 min |
| Feb 24, 2:59 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Catawba, Cleveland, Davie, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln and 3 more | 61 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
Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 193 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
- 150 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -118 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 742 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 271 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 345 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 6:56 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb, Butts and 79 more | 94 min |
| Feb 24, 8:48 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Burke and 64 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 10:49 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baldwin, Bibb, Bleckley, Burke, Butts, Calhoun and 57 more | 56 min |
| Feb 24, 12:00 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fannin, Rabun, Towns, Union | 60 min |
| Feb 24, 12:04 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 52 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 1:50 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill and 86 more | 85 min |
| Feb 24, 3:24 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Fannin, Rabun, Towns, Union | 66 min |
| Feb 24, 4:11 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien and 56 more | 64 min |
| Feb 24, 9:05 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 29 more | 25 min |
| Feb 24, 11:10 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and 1 more | 65 min |
| Feb 24, 12:43 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 51 more | 92 min |
| Feb 24, 1:19 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 55 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 24, 4:45 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden and 51 more | 90 min |
| Feb 23, 10:46 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheatham, Clay, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett and 5 more | 89 min |
| Feb 24, 2:00 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Claiborne and 31 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2012Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2012Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2012Every tornado 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.