Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings
Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 2012
31 tornado warnings in 2012. 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 tornado warnings reaches back to 1986.
Tornado Warnings by county
Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2012. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Warnings
- 31
- Busiest month
- May9 tornado warnings
- Busiest day
- May 14, 20125 tornado warnings
Over time
By month
Warning verification
How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.
6 of 31 tornado warnings covering South Carolina in 2012 had a tornado report inside them; 7 of 13 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 4 minutes after it went out.
South Carolina, 2012
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 31 | 6 | 81% | 13 | 54% | 4 min |
Each office's whole area, 2012
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Charleston, SC: tornado warnings | 18 | 2 | 89% | 7 | 43% | 1 min |
| NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: tornado warnings | 15 | 0 | 100% | 1 | 0% | |
| NWS Columbia, SC: tornado warnings | 9 | 3 | 67% | 5 | 60% | 4 min |
| NWS Wilmington, NC: tornado warnings | 11 | 1 | 91% | 1 | 100% | 9 min |
An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.
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.
The alerts
Every alert, in the order issued. Times are local, Eastern Time. Each opens its own page with the text, the map, the radar and the sounding.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 1:07 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Lexington | 31 min |
| Feb 24, 1:43 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Clarendon, Sumter | 17 min |
| Feb 24, 5:10 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CHS | Colleton, Dorchester | 29 min |
| Mar 2, 3:35 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Oconee | 40 min |
| Mar 2, 4:14 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Oconee, Pickens | 46 min |
| Mar 3, 4:26 AM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Greenwood, Laurens | 15 min |
| Mar 3, 5:32 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Kershaw, Richland | 13 min |
| Mar 3, 11:03 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CHS | Jasper | 27 min |
| Mar 24, 2:36 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester | 23 min |
| Mar 24, 8:51 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Bamberg, Orangeburg | 39 min |
| Apr 5, 4:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cherokee, Spartanburg | 38 min |
| May 14, 2:25 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Clarendon, Orangeburg | 35 min |
| May 14, 4:14 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 31 min |
| May 14, 4:33 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry, Marion | 27 min |
| May 14, 4:47 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 43 min |
| May 14, 5:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Orangeburg | 26 min |
| May 14, 11:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 26 min |
| May 15, 2:04 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Georgetown, Horry | 26 min |
| May 22, 8:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley | 19 min |
| May 30, 12:25 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Orangeburg | 50 min |
| Jun 10, 9:34 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Newberry | 26 min |
| Jun 11, 1:09 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Orangeburg | 36 min |
| Jun 11, 5:24 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Beaufort, Jasper | 36 min |
| Jul 16, 12:05 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Beaufort | 15 min |
| Jul 29, 4:06 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Beaufort, Jasper | 19 min |
| Aug 1, 8:16 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston | 44 min |
| Aug 23, 3:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston, Colleton | 52 min |
| Aug 23, 3:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | HS | Charleston | 25 min |
| Sep 29, 5:19 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cherokee, Chester, Union, York | 41 min |
| Oct 1, 2:45 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 45 min |
| Oct 2, 9:17 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | GSP | Cherokee | 43 min |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Horry County6
- Orangeburg County5
- Calhoun County4
- Charleston County4
- Colleton County3
- Jasper County3
- Cherokee County3
- Beaufort County3
- Clarendon County2
- Dorchester County2
- Oconee County2
- Lexington County1
- Sumter County1
- Pickens County1
- Greenwood County1
- Laurens County1
- Kershaw County1
- Richland County1
- Bamberg County1
- Spartanburg County1
- Marion County1
- Georgetown County1
- Berkeley County1
- Newberry County1
- Chester County1
- Union County1
- York County1
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20112013
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.