Alert archive / South Carolina / Tornado Warnings
Tornado Warnings in South Carolina, 2023
35 tornado warnings in 2023. 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 2023. Tap one for its archive.
- Tornado Warnings
- 35
- Busiest month
- August13 tornado warnings
- Busiest day
- August 30, 202311 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.
8 of 35 tornado warnings covering South Carolina in 2023 had a tornado report inside them; 9 of 20 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 6 minutes after it went out.
South Carolina, 2023
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado warnings | 35 | 8 | 77% | 20 | 45% | 6 min |
Each office's whole area, 2023
| Warnings | With a report | False alarm ratio | Reports | Inside a warning | Mean lead time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NWS Columbia, SC: tornado warnings | 9 | 3 | 67% | 7 | 57% | 7 min |
| NWS Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: tornado warnings | 14 | 3 | 79% | 11 | 27% | 2 min |
| NWS Wilmington, NC: tornado warnings | 15 | 1 | 93% | 3 | 33% | 4 min |
| NWS Charleston, SC: tornado warnings | 20 | 3 | 85% | 8 | 75% | 8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 4, 10:00 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Aiken, Edgefield, Saluda | 30 min |
| Jan 4, 10:32 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Aiken, Calhoun, Lexington, Orangeburg | 28 min |
| Jan 4, 10:38 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Lexington | 22 min |
| Jan 4, 10:54 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland | 36 min |
| Jan 4, 10:55 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Calhoun, Lexington, Richland | 19 min |
| Jan 4, 11:31 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CHS | Hampton, Jasper | 16 min |
| Jan 4, 1:29 PM EST | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 31 min |
| Jan 12, 5:00 PM EST | Tornado Warning | CAE | Edgefield, McCormick | 45 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, 6:20 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens, Union | 40 min |
| Feb 27, 6:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Anderson, Oconee, Pickens | 23 min |
| Mar 3, 7:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | GSP | Laurens, Spartanburg, Union | 23 min |
| Mar 26, 10:20 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Aiken, Lexington | 25 min |
| Mar 26, 10:44 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CAE | Aiken, Lexington, Orangeburg | 31 min |
| Jun 14, 7:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Jasper | 25 min |
| Jun 14, 7:52 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Beaufort, Jasper | 23 min |
| Jul 14, 5:32 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 28 min |
| Jul 22, 6:57 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley | 33 min |
| Jul 22, 7:04 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Georgetown, Williamsburg | 26 min |
| Aug 7, 8:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry, Marion | 27 min |
| Aug 30, 11:15 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston | 30 min |
| Aug 30, 11:43 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston, Dorchester | 11 min |
| Aug 30, 3:29 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley, Charleston | 15 min |
| Aug 30, 3:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley, Charleston | 25 min |
| Aug 30, 3:38 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston, Dorchester | 20 min |
| Aug 30, 3:52 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Colleton, Dorchester | 23 min |
| Aug 30, 4:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley, Charleston | 27 min |
| Aug 30, 5:16 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Berkeley | 29 min |
| Aug 30, 5:19 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Georgetown, Horry, Marion | 26 min |
| Aug 30, 5:20 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CHS | Hampton, Jasper | 25 min |
| Aug 30, 7:00 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 30 min |
| Aug 30, 10:08 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 13 min |
| Dec 17, 11:21 AM EST | Tornado Warning | CHS | Charleston | 24 min |
| Dec 17, 1:22 PM EST | Tornado Warning | ILM | Horry | 16 min |
By county
Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.
- Horry County7
- Charleston County7
- Lexington County6
- Berkeley County5
- Aiken County4
- Jasper County4
- Edgefield County3
- Calhoun County3
- Orangeburg County3
- Laurens County3
- Dorchester County3
- Saluda County2
- Richland County2
- Hampton County2
- McCormick County2
- Union County2
- Georgetown County2
- Marion County2
- Abbeville County1
- Greenwood County1
- Anderson County1
- Oconee County1
- Pickens County1
- Spartanburg County1
- Beaufort County1
- Williamsburg County1
- Colleton County1
The busiest days
Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.
Nearby
Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20222024
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.