Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2022

Tornado Watch 99

April 5, 2022Brunswick County, Columbus County, New Hanover County, North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 5, 2022, 5:47 PM EDT for Brunswick County, Columbus County, New Hanover County, North Carolina; 5 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 5, 2022, 5:47 PM EDT (21:47 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 2022, 10:24 PM EDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Brunswick County, NC, Columbus County, NC, New Hanover County, NC, Florence County, SC, Georgetown County, SC, Horry County, SC, Marion County, SC, Williamsburg County, SC

The radar

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:51 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 5:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Florence, Williamsburg	51 min
Apr 5, 6:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro	29 min
Apr 5, 6:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Williamsburg	46 min
Apr 5, 6:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro	45 min
Apr 5, 6:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Williamsburg	26 min
Apr 5, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Florence, Marion, Williamsburg	2 min
Apr 5, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Florence, Marion, Williamsburg	48 min
Apr 5, 7:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marlboro, Williamsburg	46 min
Apr 5, 7:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Florence, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg	26 min
Apr 5, 7:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Georgetown, Williamsburg	23 min
Apr 5, 7:55 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILM	Florence, Williamsburg	35 min
Apr 5, 8:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Horry, Marion, Marlboro and 1 more	24 min
Apr 5, 8:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Brunswick, Columbus	31 min
Apr 5, 8:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg	30 min
Apr 5, 8:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ILM	Georgetown	27 min
Apr 5, 8:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Dillon, Florence, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Williamsburg	31 min
Apr 5, 8:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Georgetown	14 min
Apr 5, 9:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Brunswick	30 min
Apr 5, 9:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILM	Brunswick, New Hanover	31 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

Newport, NC (KMHX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 195 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: 15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 987 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

155 
WWUS20 KWNS 052144
SEL9  
SPC WW 052144
NCZ000-SCZ000-060400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Tornado Watch Number 99
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
545 PM EDT Tue Apr 5 2022

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Tornado Watch for portions of 
  Southern North Carolina
  Northeastern South Carolina

* Effective this Tuesday afternoon from 545 PM until Midnight
  EDT.

* Primary threats include...
  A few tornadoes possible
  Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph likely
  Scattered large hail events to 1 inch in diameter possible

SUMMARY...Supercells in South Carolina will continue to spread
northeastward toward southern North Carolina through late evening,
while a line of severe storms farther to the west also moves
east-northeastward.  A few tornadoes will be possible with the lead
supercells and with circulations embedded in the line, while
damaging winds will be possible with the line of storms later this
evening.

The tornado watch area is approximately along and 45 statute miles
east and west of a line from 45 miles north northeast of Myrtle
Beach SC to 35 miles south southwest of Myrtle Beach SC. 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 96...WW 97...WW 98...

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 450. Mean
storm motion vector 24035.

...Thompson

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 5:26 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus	64 min
Apr 5, 2:50 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley and 11 more	115 min
Apr 5, 3:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley and 14 more	6 hr
Apr 5, 4:22 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton and 2 more	83 min
Apr 5, 6:30 PM EDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bamberg, Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Clarendon, Colleton and 5 more	90 min

Nearby

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