Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 559

November 23, 20149 counties in Georgia; 7 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 23, 2014, 7:33 PM EST for 9 counties in Georgia; 7 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Nov 23, 2014, 7:33 PM EST (00:33 UTC)
Expired: Nov 23, 2014, 10:46 PM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Bryan County, GA, Bulloch County, GA, Chatham County, GA, Effingham County, GA, Evans County, GA, Liberty County, GA, Long County, GA, McIntosh County, GA, Tattnall County, GA, Beaufort County, SC, Berkeley County, SC, Charleston County, SC, Colleton County, SC, Dorchester County, SC, Hampton County, SC, Jasper County, SC

The radar

The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 32 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:33 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: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 60%

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
Nov 23, 7:35 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Bryan, Bulloch, Evans, Tattnall	40 min
Nov 23, 7:48 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Allendale, Colleton, Hampton	57 min
Nov 23, 7:58 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Liberty	47 min
Nov 23, 8:45 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CHS	Chatham, Effingham	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 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 106 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 161 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 536 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 220 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 266 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

173 
WWUS20 KWNS 240034
SEL9  
SPC WW 240034
GAZ000-SCZ000-CWZ000-240600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 559
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
735 PM EST SUN NOV 23 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  SOUTHEAST GEORGIA
  COASTAL SOUTH CAROLINA
  COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING FROM 735 PM
  UNTIL 100 AM EST.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  SCATTERED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 30 STATUTE
MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SAVANNAH
GEORGIA TO 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA.  FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU9).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 558...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHEAST GA ARE INTENSIFYING...AND
WILL TRACK ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THIS EVENING.  STRONG LOW LEVEL
WINDS AND PROXIMITY TO SURFACE WARM FRONT WILL PROMOTE SUPERCELL
STORMS CAPABLE OF LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24045.


...HART

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 23, 7:21 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Evans, Liberty and 3 more	84 min
Nov 24, 5:07 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Colquitt and 16 more	83 min
Nov 23, 9:37 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Berkeley, Charleston, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg	53 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2014 Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2014 Every tornado watch in 2014

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.