Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2022

Tornado Watch 264

May 23, 2022Cleveland County, Polk County, Rutherford County, North Carolina; 9 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2022, 4:27 PM EDT for Cleveland County, Polk County, Rutherford County, North Carolina; 9 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 23, 2022, 4:27 PM EDT (20:27 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 2022, 9:00 PM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Cleveland County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC

The radar

The Greer radar (KGSP), 10 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:30 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
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
50%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 4:49 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPAnderson, Greenville, Pickens27 min
May 23, 7:13 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPCleveland, Rutherford32 min
May 23, 7:43 PM EDTTornado WarningGSPCleveland, Rutherford18 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, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 257 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 12:00Z on 2022-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 153 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 12:00Z on 2022-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 69 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
153 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
926 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 1:20 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnson, Bladen, Cabarrus, Chatham, Cumberland, Davidson and 16 more115 min
May 23, 1:57 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPolk, Rutherford2 hr
May 23, 3:38 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlamance, Beaufort, Bertie, Carteret, Chatham, Chowan and 26 more2 hr
May 23, 4:11 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCleveland, Gaston, Mecklenburg94 min
May 23, 6:00 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCatawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Polk and 1 more2 hr
May 23, 11:20 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chester and 18 more85 min
May 23, 2:29 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley and 17 more61 min
May 23, 3:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley and 16 more6 hr
May 23, 4:43 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Berkeley, Calhoun and 15 more2 hr
May 23, 7:02 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBamberg, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Clarendon, Colleton and 9 more118 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2022Tornado Watches in North 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.