Alert archive / North Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2022

Tornado Watch 12

January 3, 202215 counties in North Carolina; Dillon County, Horry County, Marion County, South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 3, 2022, 5:41 AM EST for 15 counties in North Carolina; Dillon County, Horry County, Marion County, South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 3, 2022, 5:41 AM EST (10:41 UTC)
Expired
Jan 3, 2022, 11:00 AM EST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
0.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

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, New Hanover County, NC, Onslow County, NC, Pamlico County, NC, Pender County, NC, Robeson County, NC, Dillon County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC

The radar

The Morehead City radar (KMHX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:43 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
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
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
60%

Warnings issued inside it

6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 3, 5:48 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen, Columbus, Robeson87 min
Jan 3, 6:50 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILMBladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Pender61 min
Jan 3, 7:24 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXDuplin51 min
Jan 3, 8:03 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXBeaufort, Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico42 min
Jan 3, 8:51 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXBeaufort, Carteret, Craven, Hyde, Pamlico39 min
Jan 3, 9:45 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMHXDare, Hyde45 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, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 265 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2022-01-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2022-01-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 40 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1335 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
72 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 2, 7:19 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCherokee, Graham, Haywood, Madison, Swain5 hr
Jan 3, 4:25 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Duplin and 9 more3 hr
Jan 3, 5:13 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlleghany, Ashe, Surry, Watauga4 hr
Jan 3, 7:47 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarteret, Craven, Dare, Hyde, Jones, Onslow and 1 more118 min
Jan 2, 9:26 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Jasper64 min
Jan 2, 9:53 PM ESTTornado WatchSPCAllendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper5 hr
Jan 2, 11:11 PM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, Fairfield and 8 more3 hr
Jan 3, 12:17 AM ESTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper118 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2022Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2022Every tornado watch in 2022

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.