Weather alerts in South Carolina
61,091 weather alerts since 1986, from the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state.
Weather alerts by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.
- Alerts
- 61,091
- Warnings
- 24,322
- Watches
- 2,071
- Advisories
- 12,344
- Busiest year
- 20203,225 alerts
- Average year
- 1,490over 41 years on file
Over time
By year
Before late 2005 the archive holds only tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings, and from 1997 SPC's watches, so the jump that year is the archive widening, not the weather.
By month of the year
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
From 2008 to 2025, 76% of tornado reports in South Carolina fell inside a tornado warning issued on average 14 minutes before, and 70% of the tornado warnings had no report inside them.
Tornado warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 114 | 39 | 66% | 62 | 82% | 22 min |
| 2009 | 49 | 11 | 78% | 19 | 84% | 15 min |
| 2010 | 44 | 17 | 61% | 24 | 88% | 8 min |
| 2011 | 50 | 18 | 64% | 26 | 92% | 20 min |
| 2012 | 31 | 6 | 81% | 13 | 54% | 4 min |
| 2013 | 27 | 5 | 81% | 10 | 80% | 11 min |
| 2014 | 8 | 3 | 63% | 8 | 38% | 9 min |
| 2015 | 12 | 6 | 50% | 17 | 59% | 11 min |
| 2016 | 27 | 3 | 89% | 8 | 88% | 37 min |
| 2017 | 70 | 25 | 64% | 71 | 83% | 12 min |
| 2018 | 34 | 12 | 65% | 21 | 71% | 8 min |
| 2019 | 54 | 14 | 74% | 26 | 85% | 13 min |
| 2020 | 102 | 34 | 67% | 69 | 68% | 12 min |
| 2021 | 68 | 14 | 79% | 35 | 86% | 17 min |
| 2022 | 59 | 17 | 71% | 42 | 71% | 18 min |
| 2023 | 35 | 8 | 77% | 20 | 45% | 6 min |
| 2024 | 97 | 29 | 70% | 73 | 78% | 12 min |
| 2025 | 22 | 6 | 73% | 8 | 63% | 11 min |
Severe thunderstorm warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 778 | 382 | 51% | 822 | 75% | 23 min |
| 2009 | 627 | 351 | 44% | 614 | 85% | 23 min |
| 2010 | 652 | 456 | 30% | 839 | 82% | 24 min |
| 2011 | 935 | 697 | 25% | 1,516 | 90% | 28 min |
| 2012 | 752 | 557 | 26% | 1,047 | 86% | 23 min |
| 2013 | 378 | 278 | 26% | 566 | 84% | 24 min |
| 2014 | 365 | 272 | 25% | 537 | 85% | 22 min |
| 2015 | 476 | 369 | 22% | 874 | 84% | 24 min |
| 2016 | 470 | 372 | 21% | 824 | 86% | 21 min |
| 2017 | 448 | 310 | 31% | 794 | 78% | 21 min |
| 2018 | 438 | 312 | 29% | 742 | 84% | 19 min |
| 2019 | 422 | 282 | 33% | 958 | 83% | 23 min |
| 2020 | 420 | 244 | 42% | 792 | 77% | 23 min |
| 2021 | 231 | 129 | 44% | 367 | 63% | 18 min |
| 2022 | 476 | 305 | 36% | 861 | 80% | 20 min |
| 2023 | 399 | 284 | 29% | 887 | 77% | 21 min |
| 2024 | 399 | 286 | 28% | 756 | 80% | 23 min |
| 2025 | 349 | 245 | 30% | 733 | 87% | 25 min |
Flash flood warnings by year
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 27 | 16 | 41% | 51 | 84% | 81 min |
| 2009 | 41 | 26 | 37% | 70 | 84% | 65 min |
| 2010 | 39 | 26 | 33% | 51 | 82% | 74 min |
| 2011 | 25 | 9 | 64% | 19 | 74% | 33 min |
| 2012 | 28 | 19 | 32% | 70 | 87% | 92 min |
| 2013 | 81 | 60 | 26% | 212 | 89% | 84 min |
| 2014 | 61 | 41 | 33% | 115 | 87% | 69 min |
| 2015 | 91 | 74 | 19% | 399 | 93% | 297 min |
| 2016 | 37 | 32 | 14% | 137 | 86% | 141 min |
| 2017 | 38 | 21 | 45% | 49 | 96% | 55 min |
| 2018 | 37 | 28 | 24% | 88 | 86% | 121 min |
| 2019 | 18 | 12 | 33% | 19 | 74% | 132 min |
| 2020 | 44 | 31 | 30% | 105 | 78% | 99 min |
| 2021 | 21 | 11 | 48% | 33 | 61% | 42 min |
| 2022 | 47 | 25 | 47% | 73 | 84% | 91 min |
| 2023 | 35 | 25 | 29% | 53 | 83% | 105 min |
| 2024 | 116 | 75 | 35% | 225 | 90% | 195 min |
| 2025 | 54 | 37 | 31% | 134 | 90% | 67 min |
Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.
Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.
By product
Every kind of product issued here, grouped by hazard. Each opens the same place narrowed to that product.
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Berkeley County5,125
- Richland County4,926
- Lexington County4,693
- Horry County4,574
- Calhoun County3,949
- Colleton County3,935
- Aiken County3,773
- Greenville County3,750
- Georgetown County3,746
- Kershaw County3,681
- Dorchester County3,672
- Sumter County3,593
- York County3,517
- Clarendon County3,512
- Spartanburg County3,459
- Florence County3,438
- Anderson County3,417
- Laurens County3,402
- Charleston County3,392
- Fairfield County3,347
- Marion County3,304
- Chesterfield County3,262
- Newberry County3,228
- Cherokee County3,147
- Lee County3,142
- Edgefield County3,136
- Chester County3,101
- Saluda County3,095
- Union County3,095
- Williamsburg County3,094
- Orangeburg County3,093
- Hampton County3,072
- Dillon County3,042
- Barnwell County3,010
- Bamberg County2,943
- Marlboro County2,943
- Greenwood County2,916
- Darlington County2,906
- Abbeville County2,830
- McCormick County2,807
The latest warnings
The most recent on file, newest first.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 1:37 PM EDT | Gale Warning | CHS | 40 hr | |
| Sep 21, 9:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Cherokee | 34 min |
| Sep 21, 5:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenville, Pickens | 51 min |
| Sep 20, 6:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Laurens, Spartanburg | 34 min |
| Sep 20, 6:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Anderson | 44 min |
| Sep 20, 5:59 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Laurens, Union | 46 min |
| Sep 19, 3:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Oconee, Pickens | 19 min |
| Sep 18, 9:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Greenwood | 47 min |
| Sep 18, 9:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Anderson, Greenville | 62 min |
| Sep 18, 8:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Anderson, Pickens | 39 min |
| Sep 18, 8:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | Greenville, Spartanburg | 43 min |
| Sep 18, 5:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GSP | York | 26 min |
Nearby
Sources
National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.