Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2013
Tornado Watch 579
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 14, 2013, 6:50 PM EST for 19 counties in North Carolina; 15 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 14, 2013, 6:50 PM EST (23:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 15, 2013, 12:09 AM EST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 0.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 34 counties
Beaufort County, NC, Bladen County, NC, Brunswick County, NC, Carteret County, NC, Columbus County, NC, Craven County, NC, Dare County, NC, Duplin County, NC, Hyde County, NC, Jones County, NC, Lenoir County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Sampson County, NC, Tyrrell County, NC, Washington County, NC, Allendale County, SC, Bamberg County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Clarendon County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Dillon County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Orangeburg County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC
The radar
The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:53 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
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 5%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 30%
Warnings issued inside it
4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 7:04 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CHS | Colleton, Dorchester | 56 min |
| Dec 14, 7:09 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CHS | Colleton, Dorchester | 36 min |
| Dec 14, 7:19 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Clarendon, Orangeburg | 41 min |
| Dec 14, 7:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Orangeburg | 23 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, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 266 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
- 148 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 474 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 72 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 265 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 440 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 14, 5:48 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Chowan and 20 more | 57 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2013Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2013Every tornado watch in 2013
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.