Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Watches in 2023
Tornado Watch 23
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 12, 2023, 4:41 PM EST for 9 counties in Georgia; 13 counties in North Carolina; 23 counties in South Carolina. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 12, 2023, 4:41 PM EST (21:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 12, 2023, 8:03 PM EST
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
All 45 counties
Burke County, GA, Columbia County, GA, Elbert County, GA, Franklin County, GA, Hart County, GA, Lincoln County, GA, McDuffie County, GA, Richmond County, GA, Stephens County, GA, Alexander County, NC, Cabarrus County, NC, Catawba County, NC, Cleveland County, NC, Davie County, NC, Gaston County, NC, Iredell County, NC, Lincoln County, NC, Mecklenburg County, NC, Polk County, NC, Rowan County, NC, Rutherford County, NC, Union County, NC, Abbeville County, SC, Aiken County, SC, Anderson County, SC, Barnwell County, SC, Cherokee County, SC, Chester County, SC, Edgefield County, SC, Fairfield County, SC, Greenville County, SC, Greenwood County, SC, Kershaw County, SC, Lancaster County, SC, Laurens County, SC, Lexington County, SC, McCormick County, SC, Newberry County, SC, Oconee County, SC, Pickens County, SC, Richland County, SC, Saluda County, SC, Spartanburg County, SC, Union County, SC, York County, SC
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
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
23 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12, 5:00 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie | 45 min |
| Jan 12, 5:09 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Alexander, Catawba, Iredell | 36 min |
| Jan 12, 5:10 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cleveland, Polk, Rutherford | 50 min |
| Jan 12, 5:19 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln | 26 min |
| Jan 12, 5:32 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln | 58 min |
| Jan 12, 5:33 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Edgefield, McCormick, Saluda | 20 min |
| Jan 12, 5:39 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Laurens | 15 min |
| Jan 12, 5:42 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cherokee, Chester, Laurens, Spartanburg, Union, York | 63 min |
| Jan 12, 5:48 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln | 42 min |
| Jan 12, 5:56 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie | 49 min |
| Jan 12, 6:03 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens | 42 min |
| Jan 12, 6:10 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg | 35 min |
| Jan 12, 6:18 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cabarrus, Catawba, Davie, Iredell, Rowan | 42 min |
| Jan 12, 6:20 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cabarrus, Mecklenburg | 55 min |
| Jan 12, 6:20 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, Union | 40 min |
| Jan 12, 6:28 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg | 62 min |
| Jan 12, 6:32 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Chester, Greenwood, Laurens, Union | 28 min |
| Jan 12, 6:43 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Columbia, Richmond | 47 min |
| Jan 12, 6:45 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Edgefield, Newberry, Saluda | 45 min |
| Jan 12, 6:56 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Aiken, Edgefield, McCormick, Saluda | 34 min |
| Jan 12, 6:58 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Rowan | 32 min |
| Jan 12, 6:59 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Union | 61 min |
| Jan 12, 7:10 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cabarrus | 20 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, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 239 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 893 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 183 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 144 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 12, 10:13 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon and 4 more | 62 min |
| Jan 12, 11:03 AM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Cherokee, Dade, Dawson and 11 more | 6 hr |
| Jan 12, 11:52 AM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta and 17 more | 53 min |
| Jan 12, 1:06 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baldwin, Banks, Barrow, Bibb, Bleckley, Butts and 74 more | 8 hr |
| Jan 12, 2:19 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Decatur, Early, Miller and 6 more | 116 min |
| Jan 12, 3:01 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clayton, Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Henry, Meriwether and 3 more | 119 min |
| Jan 12, 3:36 PM EST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Clay and 20 more | 6 hr |
| Jan 12, 4:16 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Columbia, Elbert, Franklin, Hart, Lincoln, Stephens | 59 min |
| Jan 12, 4:43 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calhoun, Clay, Dougherty, Lee, Quitman, Randolph and 5 more | 92 min |
| Jan 12, 6:12 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bleckley, Calhoun, Colquitt, Crisp, Dodge, Dooly and 15 more | 93 min |
| Jan 12, 5:54 PM EST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 28 more | 96 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in South Carolina, 2023Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2023Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2023Every tornado watch in 2023
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.