Strong heating under a weak ridge of high pressure along with deep moisture helped produce several thunderstorms with strong and damaging wind gusts over the Southeast.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS CHS wrote it up.
Strong heating under a weak ridge of high pressure along with deep moisture helped produce several thunderstorms with strong and damaging wind gusts over the Southeast.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Charleston, SC wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 19, 2:46 PM EST, 1 hour 13 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Charleston SC 346 PM EDT FRI AUG 19 2016 .SYNOPSIS... High pressure offshore will weaken through tonight. An inland trough will persist over the region this weekend. A cold front will move south through the area early next week. High pressure will then build from the north and will prevail through late week. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM SATURDAY MORNING/... Rest of today: Convection will continue to develop and expand into the forecast area through the evening hours prior to the loss of diurnal heating. Some stronger to marginally-severe storms are possible, with the overall environmental setup not much different from yesterday, with winds the primary threat. There is potential for frequent lightning and localized nuisance flooding under the more efficient precipitators due to unimpressive steering flow. Despite continuing weak environmental shear, individual cells could conglomerate into a larger multi-cell cluster. Tonight: Convection may linger well into the evening hours in some locations, but anticipate waning activity shortly after sunset for many areas. A weak shortwave passing nearby overnight will provide modest enhancement to lift, resulting in showers and thunderstorms occurring during the overnight hours, primarily within the Charleston tri-county area. Lows will be in the mid 70s for most areas, closer to 80 near the coast. && .SHORT TERM /6 AM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY/... Saturday and Saturday night: Aloft the pattern will feature nearly zonal, though broadly anticyclonic flow, around the large ridge that covers the Gulf of Mexico east to the western Atlantic. Furthermore, its hard to see any noteworthy shortwaves poised to push across the region, and instead there are pockets of NVA within the west to west- southwest flow. At the surface, the main feature is the inland trough which is still expected to be centered across the central Carolinas. Models show varying degrees of convective coverage, but a perusal of soundings makes it hard to get real excited about coverage much more than scattered. Overnight, there isn't much support for noctural development. Also, the severe weather threat remains low thanks to weak lapse rates and moderate at best CAPE. We could still see a few strong to marginally severe storms, but it should be a classic pulse day with weak shear and slow storm movement. It will be another warm one as westerly flow prior to the sea breeze will help keep temperatures up. forecast highs are in the mid 90s with lows in the mid to upper 70s. Sunday through Monday: The pattern aloft will change very little and any shortwave energy embedded within the flow should remain north of the region through early in the week. The main thing to watch for in this time period will be a cold front progged to approach on Sunday and sink southward through the area on Monday. Sunday looks to be dry for most of the day ahead of the front, thanks to warm mid levels. Then in the late afternoon and evening, we will have to see what upstream activity looks like and if it will push through. Then for Monday, the front should be situated in the vicinity of southeast Georgia. North of the front, profiles look to be capped while along and south there should be isolated to scattered convection. Sunday will be the warmest day with some compressional heating ahead of the front resulting in mid 90s with some potential for upper 90s inland. Monday will begin the cool down, though only a couple of degrees into the low 90s. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... In terms of heat and humidity, this period will feature the most significant pattern change we have experienced since June. A cold front will slowly but steadily push south of the region Monday night, and high pressure will build into the region from the north and will prevail through next week. In the wake of cold fropa, drier air will only slowly filter into the region. As a result, a marked N/NE to S/SW moisture gradient will persist Tuesday, when scattered thunderstorms could still occur especially across S/W counties. Then, medium range guidance depicts drier/more stable air spreading into the region mid to late week, and this should translate to S/SW retreat of thunderstorms. Maintained a slight chance of thunderstorms across SE GA Wednesday PM, then precipitation is limited to isolated/scattered showers across southern/coastal counties Thursday/Friday. Meanwhile, high temps in the upper 80s/lower 90s and lows in the lower/mid 70s should prevail most areas Tuesday through late week. These temps will be close to normal, but unseasonably low dewpoints in the 60s should spread across greater territory during this period, excepting perhaps far southern/coastal counties. && .AVIATION /20Z FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... Expect primarily VFR conditions at both terminals. Low probabilities for direct impacts from showers and/or thunderstorms at either terminal precludes mention of anything other than VCTS and CB at this time, but radar trends will be monitored in case amendments become necessary. Most probable period for convective development remains between roughly 18-01Z, but additional showers/thunderstorms may occur overnight if upstream convection holds together as it moves toward the coast. These overnight impacts look most probable at KCHS. Extended Aviation Outlook: Saturday through Tuesday, thunderstorms could produce brief flight restrictions, especially during the afternoon/evening hours. Otherwise, VFR. && .MARINE... Winds will remain south to southwesterly through the rest of today and tonight, generally around 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Nocturnal surging is again a possibility tonight with winds potentially reaching near 20 knots at times, though remaining below small craft advisory criteria. Convective activity over the waters this evening and potentially overnight could delay or entirely disrupt surging, but stronger storms have the potential to produce significantly higher winds than any surging would. Saturday through Wednesday: With a surface trough situated inland, moderate south to southwest flow will prevail across the local waters this weekend. Winds will generally be in the 10-15 kt range, with some surging into the 15-20 kt range with the afternoon/evening sea breeze. A cold front is then expected to push southward through the waters Sunday night and Monday which will turn the flow more northwest and then north for a time. Then by Tuesday, high pressure will build in from the north and winds will become more easterly in the 10-15 kt range through mid week. Seas will be in the 1-3 ft range for most of the period, with and uptick to 2-4 ft by Tuesday and Wednesday. With increased fetch we could even see some 5 ft seas in the outer waters by Wednesday. && .CHS WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... GA...None. SC...None. MARINE...None. && SYNOPSIS... NEAR TERM...JMC SHORT TERM...BSH LONG TERM...SPR AVIATION...BSH/JMC MARINE...BSH/JMC
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC 341 AM EDT FRI AUG 19 2016 AMZ330-350-352-354-374-GAZ087-088-099>101-114>119-137>141-SCZ040- 042>045-047>052-200745- CHARLESTON HARBOR- WATERS FROM SOUTH SANTEE RIVER TO EDISTO BEACH SC OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM EDISTO BEACH SC TO SAVANNAH GA OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM SAVANNAH GA TO ALTAMAHA SOUND GA OUT 20 NM...INCLUDING GRAYS REEF NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY- WATERS FROM SAVANNAH GA TO ALTAMAHA SOUND GA EXTENDING FROM 20 TO 60 NM-JENKINS-SCREVEN-CANDLER-BULLOCH-EFFINGHAM-TATTNALL-EVANS- INLAND BRYAN-COASTAL BRYAN-INLAND CHATHAM-COASTAL CHATHAM-LONG- INLAND LIBERTY-COASTAL LIBERTY-INLAND MCINTOSH-COASTAL MCINTOSH- ALLENDALE-HAMPTON-INLAND COLLETON-DORCHESTER-INLAND BERKELEY- INLAND JASPER-BEAUFORT-COASTAL COLLETON-CHARLESTON-COASTAL JASPER- TIDAL BERKELEY- 341 AM EDT FRI AUG 19 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS...SOUTHEAST GEORGIA AND SOUTHEAST SOUTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ASSISTANCE IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The Charleston,SC radar (KCLX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:59 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
The media relayed an image of a tree down along Blakeway Street on Daniel Island.
The public reported a tree down in a parking lot along Fairchild Street.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported a tree down near the intersection of US Highway 321 and SC 119.
The Jasper County Warning Point reported a tree down near the intersection of Janie Lane and Pleasant Hill Road.
Colleton County Emergency Management reported three trees down around Walterboro. One tree was located near the intersection of Cypress Pond Road and Little Elbow Drive. Another tree was located near the intersection of Center Street and Woodlawn Street and the third tree was located along Beach Road.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in South Carolina in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in South Carolina, August 2016
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 653601, 653528, 653537, 653538, 653531.