Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2020
Tornado Watch 116
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 13, 2020, 1:51 AM EDT for 6 counties in Georgia; 20 counties in North Carolina; 12 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 13, 2020, 1:51 AM EDT (05:51 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 13, 2020, 8:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 38 counties
Elbert County, GA, Franklin County, GA, Habersham County, GA, Hart County, GA, Rabun County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Alexander County, NC, Burke County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Caldwell County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davie County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Henderson County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Jackson County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Macon County, NC, McDowell County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Transylvania County, NC, Union County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC
The radar
The Greer radar (KGSP), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:55 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
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 80%
- 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
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
17 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 13, 1:58 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Jackson, Macon, Swain | 6 hr |
| Apr 13, 2:33 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Franklin, Habersham, Rabun, Stephens | 42 min |
| Apr 13, 2:46 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Burke, Caldwell, McDowell | 5 hr |
| Apr 13, 3:03 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Franklin, Habersham, Stephens | 27 min |
| Apr 13, 3:13 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Franklin, Hart, Rabun, Stephens | 62 min |
| Apr 13, 3:13 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | GSP | Haywood, Jackson, Macon | 5 hr |
| Apr 13, 3:18 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Transylvania | 27 min |
| Apr 13, 3:23 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Iredell and 2 more | 52 min |
| Apr 13, 3:23 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Anderson, Oconee, Pickens | 37 min |
| Apr 13, 3:41 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Henderson, Polk, Transylvania | 34 min |
| Apr 13, 3:51 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Greenville, Pickens, Spartanburg | 24 min |
| Apr 13, 4:03 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Hart | 42 min |
| Apr 13, 4:13 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Davie, Gaston and 4 more | 62 min |
| Apr 13, 4:13 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cherokee, Chester, Laurens, Union, York | 62 min |
| Apr 13, 4:43 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenwood, Laurens | 47 min |
| Apr 13, 5:10 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cabarrus, Davie, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Union | 50 min |
| Apr 13, 5:48 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Union | 42 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 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 178 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
- 3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 712 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 299 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 489 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 8:41 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartow, Catoosa, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Floyd and 13 more | 64 min |
| Apr 12, 8:57 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Rabun | 6 hr |
| Apr 12, 11:17 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee and 36 more | 88 min |
| Apr 12, 11:28 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Butts, Carroll, Chattahoochee, Clay, Clayton, Cobb and 30 more | 92 min |
| Apr 12, 11:45 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Bibb and 86 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 13, 2:39 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Bleckley, Burke, Calhoun and 37 more | 96 min |
| Apr 13, 3:20 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bleckley and 54 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 13, 6:17 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan and 15 more | 88 min |
| Apr 13, 4:40 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden and 51 more | 95 min |
| Apr 13, 5:01 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alamance, Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick and 53 more | 7 hr |
| Apr 13, 6:46 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Chowan, Columbus, Craven and 32 more | 89 min |
| Apr 13, 9:56 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Carteret, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico, Tyrrell, Washington | 64 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2020Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2020Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2020Every tornado watch in 2020
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.