Alert archive / South Carolina
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Carolina
15,849 severe thunderstorm warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.
- Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
- 15,849
- Busiest year
- 2011934 severe thunderstorm warnings
- Average year
- 387over 41 years on file
Over time
By year
Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with 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, 82% of hail, wind and damage reports in South Carolina fell inside a severe thunderstorm warning issued on average 23 minutes before, and 32% of the severe thunderstorm warnings had no report inside them.
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 |
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 county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Greenville County1,244
- Spartanburg County1,169
- Richland County1,084
- Lexington County977
- Colleton County952
- Orangeburg County914
- Anderson County901
- Aiken County875
- Berkeley County841
- Jasper County812
- Pickens County806
- Charleston County791
- Laurens County776
- Oconee County754
- Kershaw County743
- Sumter County742
- York County730
- Horry County717
- Calhoun County714
- Beaufort County712
- Dorchester County709
- Cherokee County677
- Fairfield County648
- Hampton County630
- Clarendon County602
- Union County584
- Florence County575
- Newberry County540
- Edgefield County523
- Abbeville County519
- Marion County516
- Chester County515
- Saluda County513
- Barnwell County470
- Lee County468
- Lancaster County461
- Chesterfield County453
- Dillon County444
- Greenwood County432
- Allendale County423
The latest severe thunderstorm warnings
The most recent on file, newest first.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Sep 11, 7:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CAE | Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, Richland | 46 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.